Weekender was recently given the opportunity to speak with WGN weatherman, Tom Skilling . His perfect articulation and unbelievable diction justified his position as America’s highest paid on-air weatherman. Skilling will speak Saturday in the Montgomery Auditorium at 2 p.m.

Weekender: Is it true Nicholas Cage followed you around to prepare for the movie, “The Weather Man.”

Tom Skilling: About a year ago, a few agents from Paramount came by, and I guess they seemed quite interested in the maps on the wall. About a month later, a larger crew came by, and I was asked to be a consultant for the movie. Soon enough, they actually shot on premise at the WGN Building, using our computers and programs and just changed the WGN symbol to their own. In regards to Nicholas Cage, I do remember him following me around for a little while, asking questions about being on the camera, and I couldn’t help but think, “My god, I should be asking him acting questions.”

WE: You participated in FermiLab’s 25th Anniversary Tornado Lecture. What’s that about?

TS: Twenty-five years ago, Brian Smith, an NIU graduate and part of the Omaha National Weather Service, wanted to have a tornado seminar. He contacted me and shortly thereafter had the first meeting in Geneva High School. Later that year, FermiLab called us and asked us to give the lecture there. Since then, we’ve received about 2,000 audience members each year. There’s usually an entire NIU Meteorology contingent at the lectures.

WE: You’re going to be lecturing at NIU about your trip to Alaska. Why would you go up to Alaska?

TS: In 1980, I went up with an official group, and we sped through Alaska. From a meteorological standpoint, it’s absolutely amazing. There are days entirely in darkness and entirely in sunlight. I bought a house there and stay there as often as I can. Eventually, we decided to make a program about the area. Between the Illusion Mountains, active volcanoes and the tsunamis – there was a 450-foot tsunami a while ago – we had more than enough to make an entire documentary entitled, “Alaska: Where Winters are Really Winters.”

WE: What is this about you almost losing your license for performing the news with a puppet? That’s a joke right?

TS: No, it’s true. In Milwaukee I did almost have my license pulled by the American Meteorological Society for performing with a puppet. I’d taken a job in Jacksonville, and really, I didn’t like it at all. There’s no real weather down there. So, when I was offered a position of weather anchorman in Milwaukee, back up north – with real weather – I took it. Apparently, at the time, a puppet from the ‘60s, Albert the Alley Cat, became one of the most popular figures in Milwaukee. One thing led to another and I would end up performing in this respectable new program, probably the only ones at the time discussing jet streams and using state of the art radar technology, and when I finished with my section of the weather, Albert the Alley Cat would read the statistics.

WE: You’ve got an extraordinarily large amount of accomplishments. Is it a lot of good timing or something else?

TS: The forecasting field has come further in 40 years than it has throughout the rest of history. I’ve been around and active in the golden age of meteorology. It’s an entirely different world, and it’ll be those differences that we’ll be discussing at the program.