Tom Skilling, who has defined the gold standard of being a TV meteorologist and has been forecasting the weather on WGN-TV for the past 45 years, will retire on February 28, 2024.

Join the WGN Morning News crew for a funfest as they celebrate Skilling, LIVE 9am-10am at the Music Box Theatre, located at 3733 N. Southport Avenue in Chicago. 

Skilling started his successful career at the unheard-of age of 14 at WKKD Radio in Aurora, while still in high school.  He had a series of radio and TV jobs in Illinois and Wisconsin before coming to WGN-TV in August of 1978.  Known for his in-depth and highly detailed weather segments, Tom elevated the audience’s understanding of not just the weather, but the science behind it. In addition to his weather forecasts on WGN News, Skilling hosted nearly 40 years of severe weather seminars at Fermilab, often welcoming in a “who’s who” of severe weather experts from around the world. Tom also reported firsthand on the weather from locales as varied as Alaska, Las Vegas, an ice-breaking ship in the middle of Lake Huron, and, most famously, was once chased by a tornado in Oklahoma.  Skilling is a multiple Emmy winner from the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and funds a scholarship to assist a local college student each year.  He was presented with the Illinois Broadcasters Association “Broadcast Pioneer” award in 2018.  In recent years, he has dived headfirst into the science of climate change, leading talks and participating in conferences across Chicago and the U.S.