CHICAGO, April 10, 2009 –Tom Skilling, WGN-TV’s chief meteorologist, will host the 29th Annual Tornado and Severe Weather Seminar at the Fermilab National Accelerator complex in Batavia, on Saturday, April 25, 2009, starting at noon. The seminar will repeat in its entirety at 6pm. Attendees are advised to arrive early, as admission is free and the seminars fill up quickly. After the seminars, WGNtv.com will post videos from the event.

Tom Skilling’s Annual Tornado and Severe Weather Seminar is open to people of all ages and was created to educate viewers about the dynamics and after-effects of severe weather. Skilling created this seminar 29 years ago, along with Brian Smith, currently with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Omaha, Nebraska. For more information about this seminar, go to wgntv.com. The 2009 Fermilab seminar will include the following weather topics:

· “Advancing the Prediction of Extreme Weather Events” by Dr. Louis Uccellini, Director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)

· “What is New at the Storm Prediction Center?” with Dr. Joe Schaefer, Director of the Storm Prediction Center

· “The National Weather Service’s Storm Ready Program: How Can Your Community Become Storm Ready?” with Ed Fenelon, Meteorologist in Charge of the National Weather Service-Forecast Office-Chicago

· “Last Summer’s Devastating and Lightning Intensive August 4 Northern Illinois and Indiana Derecho” with Tim Halbach, Forecaster for the National Weather Service Forecast Office, Chicago

· “Getting the Warning Out: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings are Issued at the Chicago NWS Office” with Jim Allsopp, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, for the National Weather Service Forecast Office, Chicago

· “Any Wind Can Kill” with Brian Smith, Warning Coordination Meteorologist and seminar co-founder for the Omaha, Nebraska office

· “Tornadoes: Fatalities Associated with Nature’s Most Intense Windstorms” with NIU Meteorology Professor Dr. Walker Ashley

· “Lightning Strikes Can Kill–But also Forever Change the Lives of Their Surviving Victims” with Dr. Mary Ann Cooper. MD, longtime Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Illinois-Chicago

· “We Came so Close to a Disaster in September 2006: The Loyola University Tornado Touchdown on Chicago’s North Side” with Tom Skilling, Chief meteorologist, WGN-TV-Moderator and presenter.