How much is Tom Skilling worth? Veteran meteorologist retires after 45-year-long career

Tom Skilling, who has been a meteorologist for WGN-TV since 1978, has recently announced his retirement from the position. He will be going off air on February 28, 2024. He has pursued a successful career as a meteorologist at WGN-TV, and his net worth is $15 million.

Skilling confirmed the news during his appearance on the WGN Evening News on October 12, 2023.

"I'm going to retire at the end of February, after a marvelous 45 years at this incredible television station. It's been a great career. I don't know what I'm going to be doing when I get done with this except I won't have deadlines," he said.

He thanked his colleagues for the support and recalled the stories he covered over the years.

"If you had told young Tom Skilling that he would go on to have a career in weather spanning seven decades, working in Chicago, with some truly wonderful people, I think he would be overjoyed."

News Director for WGN-TV, Dominick Stassi, said that people never took weather forecasting seriously, but Skilling helped the profession get the recognition that it needed.

"He carefully explains complex meteorological concepts in layman's terms, supported by graphics often featuring isobars and upper-airs charts," Stassi also said.

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Tom Skilling has earned a lot from his career on radio and television

Tom Skilling has been working on television since the 60s. He started his career at a very young age and later joined different TV and radio stations. Popular Networth states that his net worth is $15 million.

Chicago Tribunes states that he has been the owner of a two-bedroom condo in the North Side Edgewater neighborhood. He sold the condo for $270,000 in 2019. The condo includes a master bedroom, a kitchen, a large walk-in closet, and a steam shower.

He studied meteorology and journalism at the University of Wisconsin. Skilling is mostly known as the chief meteorologist for WGN-TV. As mentioned earlier, he joined the TV station in 1978.

Skilling made his broadcasting debut when he was 14 years old. His first job was at the radio stations, WKKD and WKKD-FM. He worked for the weather forecast in the former in 1968, and he got recognition for the accuracy of his research.

Tom Skilling worked at many other stations over the years, including WLXT-TV, WKOW-TV, and WTSO Radio. In 1978, he came to WGN-TV and became popular for his weather segments that featured all the information for the viewers.

WGN 9 stated that Tom was the host of weather seminars at Fermilab for around 40 years. He is reportedly one of the highest-paid broadcast meteorologists in the US. WGN-TV vice president and general manager Paul Rennie called Tom a "Chicago institution" and said:

"There isn't another meteorologist in history of the city, or the country for that matter, who has been more impactful doing what he does."

He has been the recipient of a few accolades and received an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, as per the AlabamaWx Weather Blog.

As per the blog, Tom Skilling has been a member of the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. He has also been a presenter at many seminars at the Fermi National Accelerator Lab. He even participated in numerous conferences held in Chicago and the U.S.