Tom Skilling and the Chicago Tribune Weather page: 1997-2022

Demetrius Ivory
·1 min read
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TOM SKILLING and his WGN Weather Team (February 16, 2016)

OVER THE YEARS, TOM SKILLING HAS BEEN SURROUNDED BY COLLEAGUES FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AS PART OF THE WGN WEATHER DEPARTMENT

  • Saturday, as colleagues celebrated a new phase in Tom Skilling’s life, he was joined by his staff of retired National Weather Service colleagues that had been a part of the WGN Weather Department for more than 25 years of Tom’s career. Beginning in 1997, Tom launched the Chicago Tribune Weather Page and his NWS colleagues came on board to assist. They helped Tom generate data to appear on the daily Tribune weather page but also assisted in daily forecasts, severe weather information, the popular ASK TOM WHY section and helped Tom maintain the WGN Weather Center website. All were on hand daily to provide statistics and data gathered from their years at the National Weather Service BEFORE joining Tom at WGN. And, all were by Tom’s side for severe weather coverage.

Here are Tom’s friends and colleagues that had been so instrumental to Tom over the years:

  • Frank Wachowski (National Weather Service archives), Richard Koeneman, Paul Dailey, Steve Kahn, Paul Merzlock, Mark Carroll and the late Dennis Haller. This group provided Tom a combined 300+ years of Chicago weather experience!

  • And, of course, other colleagues who helped with the yearly Tornado Seminar at Femilab: Brian Smith, Eric Lenning, Mark Ratzer and (former WGN interns and current National Weather Service employees) Mike Bardou and Kevin Doom

  • Working with Tom has been a major highlight of their Chicago weather careers, and they wish Tom all the best for a long, healthy and happy retirement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.