BATAVIA, Illinois (March 3, 2008) – For the 26th year, the Fermilab and WGN-TV Tornado and Sever Weather seminars will take place on Sat. April 5 at both noon and 6 p.m. at the Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory off Kirk Road in Batavia.

The Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (AACVB) walked away with two prestigious Illinois Governor’s Awards from the 2008 Illinois Governor’s Conference on Tourism, which honored work from the 2007 calendar year.

The Midwest has had its share of severe weather the past few years with Greensburg, Kanses’ 2006 tornado, the twister in 2006 at Chicago’s Loyola University campus and the rare mid-winter tornadoes which devastated some of Chicago’s northern suburbs as well as southeast Wisconsin this past January. What were the underlying conditions of these maelstroms and what were the causes?

Those questions and more will be answered in the nine talks presented by: Dr. Joe Schaefer, Director, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center; Ed Fenelon, Meteorologist in Charge-National Weather Service-Chicago; Gino Izzi, Lead Forecaster, National Weather Service-Chicago;
Jim Allsopp, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service-Chicago;
Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois-Chicago; John Jensenius, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service Gray Maine; Larry Ruthi, Meteorologist in Charge, National Weather Service, Dodge City, Kansas;Brian Smith, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Weather Service-Fall City (Omaha), Nebraska: and Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune.

Fermilab is accessible from I-88 (the Ronald Reagan Tollway) to the Farnsworth Avenue/Kirk Road exit. Head north past Butterfield Road to Fermilab's west exit off Kirk Road. Head to the main high-rise building which houses the Ramsey Auditorium where this year's programs will take place. The program is free, no tickets are required.

ABOUT THE AACVB:

The Aurora Area Convention & Visitors Bureau serves as the tourism marketing and management organization for Aurora, Batavia, Hinckley, North Aurora, Montgomery, Plano, Sugar Grove and Yorkville. This not-for-profit organization provides numerous travel resources to visitors via the Web site at www.enjoyaurora.com and a toll-free number 1-800-477-4369