| Tom Skilling | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Ethelbert Skilling, III February 20, 1952 Aurora, Illinois, United States |
| Occupation | Chief Meteorologist |
| Years active | 1966 – present |
| Notable credit(s) | WGN News Meteorologist |
| Official website | |
Thomas Ethelbert Skilling, III (born February 20, 1952), known on-air as Tom Skilling, is a popular, meteorologist in Chicago, Illinois. He is chief meteorologist for the weekday midday, 5 and 9 p.m. newscasts at CW affiliate and national cable superstation WGN-TV (channel 9).
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Skilling began his career in broadcasting at age 14, working for WKKD/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. In January 1995, Tom received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois.
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 local broadcast meteorologist in the United States.[1] He also writes the daily weather column in the Chicago Tribune, whose corporate parent, the Tribune Company, owns WGN-TV. 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. "Skillful", as his 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.
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.[2][3]
Tom is the older brother of Jeff Skilling, the discredited former CEO of Enron.[4] The 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.