Recently in PHOTO ALBUM Category

Robert Bober sent us this pictures of downed trees in Chesterton. Thanks Robert!

It's always a lot of fun spending some time with colleagues at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in southwest suburban Romeoville. That's just what I was able to do Tuesday. Joining us for a taping session as we prepare an upcoming report to air on our WGN News programs and which we'll be telling you about in the weeks ahead was Meteorologist In Charge Ed Fenelon, Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jim Allsopp and Lead Forecaster Gino Izzi.  A major upgrade to the Weather Service's Doppler Radar which will dramatically improve the radar's ability to track storms across the area and more accurately calculate precipitation form and rainfall as well as a desire to upgrade our viewers on the severe weather warning system was behind our Romeoville office visit.

Joining us was Meteorologist in Charge Ed Fenelon, who briefed us on the revolutionary upgrade which is to be installed initially in just five National Weather Service Forecast Offices--then across the entire NWS Doppler network (the installation is to take place next September here in Chicago). Also with us was Jim Allsopp who explained the critical importance of the thousands of spotters who volunteer and scan area skies during stormy periods and Gino Izzi, who's joined us at our Fermilab program with excellent presentations in recent years on recent severe weather outbreak and was on hand during our Tuesday visit to walk us through the devastating August 4 derecho which hit with 90 mph wind gusts and several tornadoes last summer. The fast moving squall line forced baseball fans to flee into
Wrigley Field's lowest level to escape blinding rains for first time. We were also joined Phil Rittenhaus who told us about the amazing contribution amateur radio operators makes to the severe weather system and by longtime friend Roger Benuchi from Plainfield Emergency Services.

Plainfield, of course, was the site of the immediate Chicago area's most recent devastating tornado which hit the southwest suburban community with deadly force the afternoon of August 28, 1990. Joining me on today's shoot were my WGN colleagues producer Pam Grimes, who took the photos you see here and producing the upcoming piece, and ace WGN videographer Steve Scheuer.

Thanks to Ed, Gino and Jim and their colleagues at the NWS-Chicago for making us feel so welcome!
 
Tom Skilling

Thanks for Hannah Bounardj who evaluated weather forecasts for 7 days as a school project and informs us our WGN Weather Center forecasts were most accurate
 
Check this out!  Chicago Public School 4th grade student Hannah Bounardj evaluated Chicago television weather forecasts over 7 days as part of a school project.  Her aunt was kind enough to send us these shots and to inform us that Hannah concluded of all of Chicago's weather teams, the WGN Weather Center's forecasts are the most accurate!  We're thrilled to hear that Hannah!  Thanks to you and your aunt for sharing that news with us and CONGRATULATIONS on your hard work on the project.  We hope it earned you an "A+" and just want you to know that we DEFINITELY have given you an "A+"!  Much success with your studies!!
 
Tom Skilling
 
Photos of Hannah Bounardj and her 4th grade project as a student of our Chicago Public Schools

Another beautiful sunset courtesy of Kasatochi aerosols left over from the early August
eruption in Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain

Mike Frankowski of South Elgin never misses out on an opportunity to share beautiful
photos with us---like this sunset Tuesday evening (9/2). Aerosols produced by the
eruption of the Kasatochi Volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands—an eruption which on
August 8 of this year sent a thick plume of ash 35,000 ft. into the atmosphere---are
acting on sunlight globally and producing especially vivid sunset over a large swath of
the planet. Our thanks to Mike for sharing this stunning sunset with us!

Tom Skilling

Photo courtesy of Mike Frankowski, South Elgin

I’ve just returned from southern Alaska and wanted to share some photos I snapped over this weekend (October 6-7) of this year’s fall colors. Some of the images you see here were taken along the New Seward Highway which parallels the Turnagain Arm between Anchorage and Girdwood—a community 36 miles southeast of Anchorage. The region features a mix of spruce and deciduous trees. It’s the deciduous trees which change color in autumn. Given the species of trees there, fall colors feature vivid yellow and orange colors rather than the yellow, orange and red mix which occurs here in the Chicago metro area. I can tell you this year’s display, which is peaking in the area from Anchorage southward, is nothing short of spectacular.

“Termination dust”, the term used to cover the first snow cover of the cold season, is creeping down the mountains as snow levels and temperatures in the region drop. Interior and north Alaskan temperatures have fallen to single digits with increasing regularity in the past week and snow now dusts or covers the ground in much of the state’s interior. Note: Much of the Chicago area is two to three weeks from its peak autumn colors while fall colors are peaking (or in spots have just peaked) across northern Wisconsin and are on the verge of peaking in the southern third of the state.

-Tom Skilling

Photo Courtesy: Tom Skilling!

John Lykowski sent us this photo of the Chicago skyline cheering on the Chicago Bears. John tell us he shot this image last Saturday from Adler Planetarium, the night before Chicago’s NFC Championship game. Thanks for the great shot John!

PHOTO COURTESY: John Lykowski, Lykowski Studios

The Crew of the Eagle wins this year's Race to Mackinac Island.
It's with special pride we congratulate the crew of the sailboat "Eagle" for their victory in this year's challenging Chicago to Mackinac Island Sailboat race. What an accomplishment on the part of these dedicated mariners and how proud we are that this crew was among the mariners who joined us ahead of the race in the WGN-TV/Tribune Weather Center for our annual weather briefings. This year's briefings took place Thursday and Friday evenings, July 20 and 21.

The crew competed against 300 sailboats and their crews, which underscores the magnitude of the accomplishment. Shawn O'Neill and his father Jerry of the Eagle's crew tell us that they sailed across the finish line at Mackinac Island just four seconds ahead of their closest challenger. The win followed a 43 hour and 333 mile trek the length of Lake Michigan to Mackinac Island. Shawn, Jerry and their dedicated crew were among the mariners who joined us this year—and in years past as well—in the WGN/Tribune Weather Office for our annual Mackinac Race briefings the Thursday and Friday before the 300+ mile July 24, 2006 trek up the lake began. Our visits and briefings with Mackinac racers has been a part of our July here for many years now and always rank among the highlights of each year here in the office. Few watch or understand the weather better than those who take on the Great Lakes—and the mariners who participate in the Mackinac Race rank among this region's most accomplished mariners. Their's is clearly a mission conducted with true passion!

Congratulations to the crew of the Eagle and all who participated in this year's Chicago to Mackinac Race! Look forward to seeing many of you here in the office ahead of next year's race!
--Tom Skilling

The Eagle and its crew cross the finish line on Mackinac Island at 11:23 a.m. Monday, July 24.

PHOTO COURTESY: Ann O'Neill

The Eagle in full sail against Chicago's skyline as viewed from Lake Michigan

PHOTO COURTESY: Lu O'Neill

Here's the happy crew assembled July 24 this year after victory on board the Eagle in Mackinac harbor

PHOTO COURTESY: Ann O'Neill

CREW MEMBERS:
Back row left to right: Bill Zeiler, Boris Bonutti, Shawn O'Neill, Jan Promer, Michael Cook, Doug Warren
Front row left to right: Doug Gifford, Bork Maronn, Jerry O'Neill

Tom Skilling takes a moment to send greetings from his Alaskan vacation and reports that it snowed for two days straight when he first arrived. He's already shoveled three feet of snow, but he's thoroughly enjoying his trip. He says "It's been magnificent!"

Tom Skilling autographing a baseball for a Cubs charity auction

Tom Skilling being interviewed on WGN Radio by Pat Hughes and Ron Santo

Tom Skilling warming up in the singer's bullpen moments before rendering his melodious version of the 7th Inning-Stretch with the WGN-TV Weather Team

Are you ready Cub Fans? A one a two...

One, two, three strikes you're out!

Tom Skilling and the staff at the WGN Weather Center (Bill Snyder, Paul Dailey and Tom Valle) prepare forecasts and graphics for the Friday evening weather broadcast and tomorrow's Chicago Tribune weather report.