It seems WGN-TV weather forecaster Tom Skilling has things on his mind other than weather.

Skilling, who will be at NIU on Saturday, will discuss his Alaskan endeavors.

He traveled with a crew last January and spent a week in the Alaskan wilderness.

“The Alaska shoot … offers a unique insight with some pretty amazing photography into life during the winter season in one of our continent’s most fascinating and challenging winter climate regimes,” Skilling said in a statement to the sponsor of the event, NIU’s American Meteorology Society.

The goal of AMS is to promote the atmospheric sciences among its members and the local community.

“Tom is a famous figure within the meteorological field,” said Samuel Shea, AMS webmaster. “The public and students listen to and respect what he says. He has a calm, cool manner to connect with his audience. He helps the average viewer understand why the type of weather affecting our area happens.”

Skilling has been to NIU before and has a working relationship with the geography and meteorology departments in sponsoring research projects for class credit.

Although tornado season is underway, Skilling’s original intent was to not speak about tornadoes, but because of the 15-year anniversary of the Plainfield tornado, Skilling wanted to address the issue.

“In communicating with him, he brought up the idea of the Plainfield tornado and we thought it would be a fantastic idea,” Shea said. “Weather is dynamic. It always changes and affects everyone. Weather is something that people have to put up with every day, and they may not know much about it.”

Sophomore meteorology major Molly Ragsdale, who has been in AMS for two years, said bringing Skilling to NIU will be a great learning experience for meteorology students.

“It is important because it gives students who are majoring in the field an opportunity to see what it is like to work in the field of [television], and what experiences he has had in his career,” Ragsdale said.