Chicagoist: The Chicagoist Weather Experiment: Week One

Team Volkman

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:06:30 -0600

Skilling, Taft, Avelos, Baskerville, and that sleazy tramp Tammie Souza all take a back seat to the one and only King Volkman. Volkam never saw a jet stream he couldn't predict and was near perfect in his 40+ years forecasting the weather. Volkman's enthusiasm and grace in front of the screen is unmatched when reporting temperatures, wind, barometric pressure, and due points. I can't believe how many times Skilling changes his forecast and what a clownshow it is over on Fox. Volkman will live forever and go down as the Michael Jordan of predicting weather along wth the title "Greatest Meteorologist of All Time"....the rest of those circus freaks can have fun playing for a distant second.......

MPTest

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:58:33 -0600

Her real name is Ginger Zuidgeest

newbie here

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 23:08:08 -0600

nmpkm, Who cares?! Many people use an alternative name for convenience if their name is not pronouncable or doesn't sound all that great. I think I have been discriminated by my name many times. She's still hot and this is coming from a straight female. I also heard that she's a kickboxer, so watch what you say about her. ;) When she was at another news station, she did the weather and also the news. Watching her, it's obvious that she's not a teleprompt reader! As for Tom, his weather lecture...oh sorry, I mean weather forecast puts me to sleep that it loses my attention and I end up missing the weather outlook for the week. He rambles and gives too much details like he's lecturing meteorology students. The audience do not need to hear all that. Kudos to him for his immense knowledge on the subject but it drives me nuts on how long it takes. And yeah, as a result, I don't watch his weather forecasts out of frustration. LOL!

Brad

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 18:14:41 -0600

Chuck Norris gets his weather reports from Tom Skilling. That's how bad ass Skilling is.

Brad

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 17:43:35 -0600

Chuck Norris gets his weather reports from Tom Skilling. That's how bad ass Skilling is.

deke

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:02:33 -0600

Tommy Skilling is the weather god, no 2 ways about it, the other channels can have their hotties purporting to know the weather but the Tommy is the only one to turn to for the real scoop on weather in Chicago.

nmpkm

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:17:27 -0600

Crusader01, Was Ginger Zee her real name? I ask and made the connection because it sounded like such an obvious fake name, like most newscasters have. But if it is her real name, and I've found no proof one way or another, that'd ratchet up my enjoyment level immensely.

Cletus Warhol

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:09:43 -0600

Just so we're clear, I dig Tom tremendously, I just get frustrated at times when he gets a little too off topic. Or perhaps I'm just frustrated with myself for not being able to stay focused and being some sort of weather wuss. "Pay attention boy! He's talking 'bout dew points!!!"

Crusader01

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:33:27 -0600

Hey nmpkm- Be careful when you assume someone is a "talking head" just because they're young, attractive, and female. I was a classmate of Ginger's in the meteorology program at Valparaiso University. She took the same classes I did--which included physics, calculus, and a dynamics class featuring equations that stretched across two pages of my notebook. You might be surprised who's really a talking head (Steve Baskerville, Paul Konrad) and who's not. (Okay, so Konrad's not that big of a surprise, though I still love watching him in the morning!)

Wood-Tang

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:04:00 -0600

Ginger Zee could stand there and read out of a phone book for all I care. She's giving Ana Belaval a run for her hot news chick money.

curmudgeon

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:18:32 -0600

I agree 100% with Cletus. Skilling is more boring than the guys that narrate nature documentaries. But when I can stay focused he is usually right.

vanessa

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:52:05 -0600

I'm with Seattlest Tom -- I grew up with Skilling. I love him. Plus, look how happy he gets talking about the weather! Who else can talk about wind patterns and EL Nino with absolute glee and excitement?

nmpkm

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:34:49 -0600

I agree with Tankboy, I'm gonna be looking for this every Monday now. Also, Harry Volkman is the shit. (probably the first time that sentence has ever been phrased in the English language) And Skilling is supposed to be an actual meteorologist. I'm dying to see how those talking heads who just read off a teleprompter at the larger networks do (I'm looking at you, "Ginger Zee", if that is your real name...)

tankboy

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:35:34 -0600

I so hope this becomes a weekly regular feature. Plus? Fuck Skilling ... long live Harry Volkman!

Seattlest Tom

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:29:26 -0600

I grew up with Tom Skilling. Don't mess with the Tom Skilling! Compared to some of the other fools this town has had pontificating about the weather, Skilling is a real pro. Forecasting is a real conundrum. Despite all the models and computers, there are too many variables. I'm always willing to cut meteorologists some slack. Skilling lives and breathes weather and climate; he knows his shit and he's good at educating others. He occasionally speaks at severe weather seminars, which is where I met him several years ago.

Cletus Warhol

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:19:34 -0600

My biggest beef with Skilling's 10 minute "State of the Troposphere" updates is that, at some during his waxing rhapsodic about jet streams over the south Pacific or "all those isobars," I invariably start to zone out and miss the actual forecast portion. "Blah blah blah...Back to you Micah and Bob." Shit, I missed it yet again! It's almost comforting to hear that the forecasts I always miss are mostly wrong.

Sarah

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:37:07 -0600

I should clarify that I have cursed Skilling under my breath, not because his brother was part of the Enron scandal, but because he has given me ridiculously wrong forecasts in the past. (See above comment re: pull a better one out of my ass.)

oldman

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:24:45 -0600

I'm surprised he got the wind wrong, it seems all he does on the forcast is take about winds. Seriously, I watch him and after he is done, I'm like what the hell will the weather be tomorrow? But his chipmunk face is the closet we have to a groundhog.So he should get bonus points for that.

Kevin

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:51:26 -0600

Skilling is a sensationalist. His long range forecast always predict the most extreme conditions and usually end up being dead wrong.

curmudgeon

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:39:14 -0600

What has Jeff got to do with the accuracy of the weather forecast?