Tom Skilling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Ethelbert Skilling, III (born 1952) [1] or Thomas E. Skilling III [2](known on-air as 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 and now "The 5:55 Forecast."

Skilling began his career in broadcasting at age 14, working for WKKD and WLXT-TV (Ch. 60) in Aurora, Illinois while attending school at West Aurora High School. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study meteorology and journalism. After college he worked as a weatherman in Jacksonville, Florida, at WKOW in Madison, Wisconsin 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[citation needed]. 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.

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. [3] [4]

"Skillful", as the late WGN colleague Bob Collins called 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 Jeff Skilling, the discredited former CEO of Enron. Both brothers are sons of the late Thomas Ethelbert Skilling, Jr (1923-2006) and his wife Betty C. Skilling (1924-2008), of Aurora, Kane county, Illinois, and grandsons of Thomas Ethelbert Skilling, Sr. (1896-1968) and his wife Lillian Alta Foringer (1897-1979) of Parnassus, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania and Broward county, Florida. Their great-grandparents Robert John Skilling (born July 1856) and his wife Mary Quinn (born September 1860) immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in 1879.

[edit] References

  1. ^ [Who's Who in America(R) (Marquis(TM)). 51st edition, 1997. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1996. (WhoAm 51) * Who's Who in America(R) (Marquis(TM)). 52nd edition, 1998. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1997. (WhoAm 52) * Who's Who in America(R) (Marquis(TM)). 53rd edition, 1999. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1998. (WhoAm 53) * Who's Who in America(R) (Marquis(TM)). 54th edition, 2000. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1999. (WhoAm 54) * Who's Who in America(R) (Marquis(TM)). 55th edition, 2001. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 2000. (WhoAm 55) * Who's Who in America(R) (Marquis(TM)). 56th edition, 2002. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 2001. (WhoAm 56) * Who's Who in Entertainment. Second edition, 1992-1993. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1992. (WhoEnt 2) * Who's Who in Entertainment(R) (Marquis(TM)). Third edition, 1998- 1999. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1997. (WhoEnt 3) * Who's Who in the Midwest(R) (Marquis(TM)). 27th edition, 2000-2001. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 2000. (WhoMW 27) * Who's Who in the Midwest(R) (Marquis(TM)). 28th edition, 2002. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 2001. (WhoMW 28) * Who's Who in Science and Engineering(R) (Marquis(TM)). Fifth edition, 2000-2001. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1999. (WhoScEn 5) * Who's Who in the World(R) (Marquis(TM)). 13th edition, 1996-1997. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1995. (WhoWor 13) * Who's Who in the World(R) (Marquis(TM)). 14th edition, 1997. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1996. (WhoWor 14) * Who's Who in the World(R) (Marquis(TM)). 15th edition, 1998. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1997. (WhoWor 15) * Who's Who in the World(R) (Marquis(TM)). 16th edition, 1999. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1999. (WhoWor 16) * Who's Who in the World(R) (Marquis(TM)). 17th edition, 2000. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 1999. (WhoWor 17) * Who's Who in the World(R) (Marquis(TM)). 18th edition, 2001. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 2000. (WhoWor 18)]
  2. ^ AMS List of TV Seal Holders
  3. ^ [1] WGN-TV 9 - WGN-HD Biographical listing for Tom Skilling.
  4. ^ [2] Official web page of the Tom Skilling Tornado Seminar


[edit] External links