Forecasting the Future: Tom Skilling & Don Wuebbles Talk Climate Change

Tom Skilling, WGN-TV chief meteorologist emeritus, appeared on WGN Evening News, WGN News at Nine, and WGN News at Ten. He celebrated his 45th anniversary with WGN-TV in August 2023 and officially retired from WGN-TV at the end of February 2024.

Starting his successful career at the unheard-of age of 14, Tom was hired by WKKD Radio in Aurora, IL, while attending West Aurora High School. He joined WLXT-TV three years later, while going to school during the day.

In 1970, Tom moved to Madison, WI to study meteorology and journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, while continuing to work in radio and television. Tom’s first television job was at age 18 in Aurora, IL, at WLXT-Channel 60. Then on to WKOW-TV (ABC affiliate) and WTSO Radio in Madison, WI before going to work for WITI-TV Milwaukee from 1975-1978, where he was rated the city’s #1 meteorologist.

Tom joined WGN-TV on August 13, 1978.  He has established himself as a respected meteorologist both locally and nationally, known for his in-depth reports, enthusiasm, and use of state-of-the-art technology. For over 30 years, Skilling was chief meteorologist on WGN Midday News as well as later newscasts. Tom Skilling has been awarded with four honorary doctorates from Northern Illinois University, Lewis University, St. Mary’s of Minnesota, and Aurora University.

In early 2004, Tom helped coordinate the Tribune Weather Center, which combined the meteorology resources and expertise of WGN-TV, CLTV and the Chicago Tribune in one location. Starting 1997, Skilling was the driving force behind the Chicago Tribune’s weather page. Among the elements in the column was “Ask Tom Why,” in which Tom took viewers’ questions and answered the “why” behind the weather. In October 2008, Tom and the WGN-TV Weather Center started providing weather reports to WGN Radio. He also received an immense response for the WGNtv.com weather blog.

For over 38 years, Tom Skilling hosted a Tornado and Severe Storms Seminar at Fermilab. As host of the event, Skilling welcomed the ‘who’s who’ in the severe weather research and forecast community, including famed University of Chicago tornado researcher Dr. Ted Fujita. The Fermilab programs were attended by thousands over the years and streamed to even larger audiences online.

Tom has spoken and continues to speak at numerous events throughout the Chicagoland area discussing climate change. Some examples of his advocacy efforts include:  hosting a talk to 200 area science teachers in Downers Grove, participating in a climate conference in Naperville, heading to Palatine to address an Energy Expo sponsored by the Sierra Club, and working with the Chicago Mayor’s office several times. He emceed a conference of local mayors from across the Chicagoland community addressing climate change, as well as an awards event for mayors recognizing environment efforts in member cities (mayors and their representatives for the world’s 40 biggest cities which included the mayors of Paris and Mexico City and the Deputy Mayors of New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC).

Tom was awarded the Illinois Broadcasters Association (IBA) as their “2018 Broadcast Pioneer” honoree. From recording a podcast with former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel about climate change to emceeing events, Tom has maintained a very busy schedule.

Donald J. Wuebbles is the Harry E. Preble Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois. He is also a special advisor to the President of the University of Illinois and a Distinguished Scientist with the University’s Discovery Partners Institute. He is also Director of Climate Science for Earth Knowledge. From 2015 to 2017, Dr. Wuebbles was Assistant Director with the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the Executive Office of the President (with President Obama). Dr. Wuebbles has two degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, in Atmospheric Science. He also led the development of the School of Earth, Society, and Environment at the University, and was its first director. Dr. Wuebbles is an expert in atmospheric physics and chemistry, with over 600 scientific publications related to the Earth’s climate, air quality and stratospheric ozone. He also provides analyses and development of metrics for translating science to policy and societal responses. He has been a leader in many international and national scientific assessments, including being a coordinating lead author on international climate assessments led by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), thus contributing to IPCC being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He co-led Volume 1 of the 2017 4th U.S. National Climate Assessment. Amongst his major awards, Dr. Wuebbles has received the Cleveland Abbe Award from the American Meteorological Society, the Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Bert Bolin Global Environmental Change Award from the American Geophysical Union. He is a Fellow of three major professional science societies, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Meteorological Society. He was a member of the joint U.S. National Academy of Science and UK Royal Society Committee on Climate Change that wrote Climate Change: Evidence and Causes in 2014 and updated it in 2020. He led special assessments of climate change and its impacts on the Great Lakes region, and on Illinois in 2019 and 2021, respectively. He also coauthored the 2021 Climate Action Plan for the Chicago Region. In 2022, he chaired a committee for the National Academy of Sciences that wrote a special report on a framework for greenhouse gas emissions inventories being used in consideration of policies to reduce the emissions affecting climate change. He wrote the proposal for the University of Illinois to host the international Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress to Chicago in June 2025.