WGN Weather Center Blog

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

Posted by wgnweather at 8:22 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

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!

Posted by wgnweather at 7:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

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

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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

Posted by wgnweather at 4:57 PM | Permalink

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!"

Posted by wgnweather at 4:23 PM | Permalink

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!

Posted by wgnweather at 5:37 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Posted by wgnweather at 5:58 PM | Permalink

Keenan Smith preparing to go on air Friday on CLTV

Posted by wgnweather at 5:55 PM | Permalink

WGN Weather Center's very own weather producer Bill Snyder is ready for the storm! Bill purchased a monster snow blower this week that is sure to gobble up the snow. This photo of his snow blower was sent to us via Bill's new wireless picture phone.

Posted by wgnweather at 4:51 PM | Permalink

I wanted to share with you my early January on-air weather chat with
Alaska's beloved Mike Porcaro (pictured here on the left) and his ace
engineer and always friendly sidekick Doug McCullough (on the far
right). Mike's popular KENI afternoon drive time radio program out of
Anchorage is an Alaskan favorite each afternoon and evening from 4 to 6
P.M. on the Clear Channel news/talk radio station which unabashedly dubs
itself the 50,000 watt "Blowtorch". (Mike kids that the station's signal
is so powerful that it has toothbrushes glowing in Siberia--just across
the Bering Sea from our Great 49th State!)

I first visited with Mike last January as my producer Pam Grimes,
videographer Kevin Myers and I began filming our recently re-aired
weather special, "Alaska: Where Winters are Really Winters" last
January. (Many thanks to all who e-mailed to let us know they watched
the program!!!) Preparing that show allowed each of us rare insights
Alaska's fascinating but challenging winters and of the passion Alaska's
residents hold for that season and its uniquely awesome beauty. Mike
had gotten wind of our visit and extended me an invitation to talk about
it on his program, opening the phone lines to the many WGN-TV viewers
and Midwest transplants who now call Alaska home and still watch WGN-TV
on cable. What a great time I had with Mike and his listeners!

Mike is the former Executive Director of the Alaska Public
Broadcasting Commission--responsible in many ways years ago for bringing
television to a state so vast it covers an area equivalent to 20% the
land mass of the Lower 48 (no easy task, as you can imagine) has called
Alaska home for 30 years and began his broadcast career in the Rockford,
Illinois market. His advertising and public relations firm, Porcaro
Communications, is an institution in Alaska and western Canada!

-Tom Skilling

Posted by wgnweather at 11:18 PM | Permalink

Chris is a Senior in Broadcast Meteorology at
Valparaiso University.
His home town is Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Dan attended the University of Missouri-Columbia
and graduated in May, 2004. He's actively pursuing
a weather career in forecasting and is scheduled to
attend graduate school in the fall of 2005.

Jen and Amanda are Seniors in Broadcast
Meteorology at Valparaiso University.

Thanks for all the help guys, and good luck with all your future endeavors!

--Tom Skilling & the staff at the WGN-TV Weather Center

Posted by wgnweather at 10:00 PM | Permalink