* Not only has Tom Skilling been perhaps the nation’s most influential TV meteorologist (he’s a god to Chicago’s agriculture exchange markets), he also comes across as a truly nice and decent man. I don’t think I speak only for myself when I say that while I’ve never met him, I feel like I know him and I really like him. Block Club Chicago…
Tom Skilling, longtime WGN meteorologist and perhaps one of Chicago’s most recognizable broadcast personalities, will retire from the role next year after 45 years delivering local weather forecasts.
Skilling made the announcement on WGN Evening News on Thursday night, reminiscing on his storied career over archives clips of him in action.
Skilling’s final broadcast will be Feb. 28, 2024.
He started working with WGN in 1978, saying with a chuckle: “I had hair back in those days.”
“If you had told young Tom Skilling that he would go on to have a career in weather spanning seven decades, working in Chicago, with some truly wonderful people, I think he would be overjoyed,” Skilling said. “And that’s how I feel today. Overjoyed at the colleagues I’ve worked with, the viewers I’ve met, the stories I’ve covered. Overjoyed and grateful. I wouldn’t trade a single minute of it for anything.”
An Aurora native, Skilling started his broadcasting career as a 14-year-old high school student at WKKD Radio in his hometown. He studied meteorology and journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison while continuing to work in radio and television. After stops in Madison and Milwaukee, where he was a meteorologist at WITI-TV, he landed at WGN, where Skilling became synonymous with Chicago weather for more than four decades. […]
In addition to his TV duties, Skilling hosted nearly 40 years of severe weather seminars at Fermilab in Batavia. […]
Skilling said he wants to do some traveling and he plans to remain in Chicago after retirement. Beyond that, his future remains up in the air.
