Tom Skilling, WGN-TV’s chief meteorologist, will host the 32nd   annual Tornado & Severe Weather Seminar at the Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory complex in Batavia on Saturday, April 14.  There will be TWO opportunities to see the presentation: noon and 6pm.  Attendees are advised to arrive early as admission is free and the seminars fill up quickly.  For those who are on Twitter, users will be encouraged to use the hashtag “#SkillingFermi.”  Additionally, the 6pm seminar will be streamed LIVE on WGNtv.com, where video highlights of the presentation will also be posted.

Tom Skilling’s annual Tornado & Severe Weather Seminar is open to people of all ages and was created to educate viewers about the dynamics and aftereffects of severe weather.  Tom created this seminar 31 years ago with Brian Smith, currently with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Omaha, Nebraska.  For more information about the event, go to tinyurl.com/SkillingFermi .

The 2012 Fermilab Tornado & Severe Weather Seminar will include the following weather topics:

• A presentation by Tom that will look at the revolutionary advances making more accurate severe weather forecasts possible.
• A discussion of the impact of recent weather events including tornados, flooding, and snowstorms from Dr. Louis Uccellini, Director of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction.
• A presentation by Dr. Russell Schneider, Director of the NOAA-NWS Storm Prediction Center, that will revisit historic Chicago tornado events, describe current national severe weather forecast efforts and recap the historic 2011 United States tornado season. 
• A presentation on “Enhancing the Weather Warning Process to Facilitate Improved Public Response” will be given by Edward Fenelon, Meteorologist in Charge at the Chicago-National Weather Service Forecast Office. 
• A discussion with Brian E. Smith, a National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist, pertaining to safety in public buildings with emphasis on the 2011 Joplin storm. 
• A video and slide presentation from Jim Reed, an award-winning extreme weather photographer and storm chaser from Wichita, Kansas. 
• A presentation of severe weather preparedness for large outdoor events by Jim Allsopp, Warning Coordination Meteorologist from Chicago’s National Weather Service Forecast Office. 
• A discussion about where and when tornadoes strike in Illinois, presented by Dr. Jim Angel, a State Climatologist.