Tom Skilling
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Tom Skilling is a popular meteorologist in Chicago, Illinois. He is the weather anchor for the WGN News at Noon and WGN News at Nine.
Skilling began his career in broadcasting at age 14, working for WKKD in Aurora, Illinois while attending high school. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study meteorology and journalism. After college he worked as a weatherman in Jacksonville, Florida and at WITI in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Skilling returned to the Chicago area and began working for WGN-TV Channel 9 in 1978. He is currently WGN's chief meteorologist and is rumored to be the highest paid broadcast meteorologist in the United States. He also writes the daily weather column in the Chicago Tribune, whose corporate parent, the Tribune Company, owns WGN. His weather broadcasts have always featured the latest technology in computer imagery and animation techniques. He has long been hailed for his in-depth reports and striking accuracy. Millions of people tune in daily to hear his reports on superstation WGN.[citation needed]
Skilling is a member of the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association.
He hosts annual tornado and severe weather seminars at the Fermi National Accelerator Lab (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois. 2006 marked the 25th year of the seminar.
"Skillful", as WGN colleague Bob Collins used to call him, was consulted for the movie The Weather Man, which was set in Skilling's hometown of Chicago at a fictionalized version of WGN. Tom is the older brother of Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron CEO.
