Alyssa Donovan: WGN-TV Chicago Weather Anchor — Biography

Alyssa Donovan is a broadcast meteorologist and reporter serving as the weather anchor for WGN Midday News and WGN Evening News at WGN-TV in Chicago. Promoted to the anchor role in April 2024, she has built her career across five television markets over more than a decade — from her first job in Peoria, Illinois, through Spokane, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, before returning to her native Chicago area in November 2021.

Her rise follows a classic local-news trajectory: years of reporting and forecasting in smaller markets, a homecoming to a top-three market, and a promotion to a flagship anchor chair at one of America’s best-known independent stations. Along the way she has covered tornadoes, wildfires, severe storms, and lake-effect weather — experience that has made her one of Chicago’s most versatile on-air meteorologists.

Fact	Details
Full Name	Alyssa Donovan
Profession	Broadcast meteorologist and reporter
Current Role	Weather anchor, WGN Midday News (11 a.m.–1 p.m.) and WGN Evening News (5 p.m)
Station	WGN-TV, Chicago
Joined WGN-TV	November 2021
Promoted to Anchor	29 April 2024
Hometown	Northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois
Education	B.S., Broadcast Journalism, Illinois State University; Broadcast Meteorology programme, Mississippi State University
Previous Stations	WEEK Peoria, KXLY Spokane, KSHB Kansas City, WRTV Indianapolis
Marital Status	Reported engaged (unconfirmed by Donovan or WGN-TV)
Age	Not publicly disclosed

Early Life and Education

Donovan is a native of Chicago’s northwest suburbs, where she grew up before leaving the area to launch her broadcasting career. Her Midwestern roots became a defining part of her story when WGN-TV brought her home in 2021 — a full-circle moment for a journalist who had started out just a few hours south in central Illinois, and a homecoming that resonated with Chicago viewers who value local ties in their news anchors.

She earned a B.S. in broadcast journalism from Illinois State University, then completed the Broadcast Meteorology programme at Mississippi State University — the same specialist programme completed by broadcast meteorologists including ABC7NY’s Dani Beckstrom — giving her formal forecasting credentials to match her years of field-reporting experience.

Alyssa Donovan Career Journey: Five Markets in a Decade

Donovan’s career spans five television markets and more than a decade — a steady climb through progressively larger markets that took her from central Illinois to the Pacific orthwest, into the severe-weather corridor of the Midwest, and finally back to Chicago. Few local meteorologists can claim forecasting experience in such contrasting climates.

WEEK Peoria, Illinois — Where It Started

Donovan began her broadcasting career in Peoria, Illinois, as a reporter and weather forecaster for WEEK, the market’s NBC affiliate. It was a baptism of fire: she covered the 17 November 2013 EF4 tornado outbreak that devastated Washington, Illinois — one of the most destructive tornado events in state history — as well as historic regional flooding. That early experience with high-stakes severe weather shaped everything that followed, teaching her to deliver calm, accurate information when viewers needed it most.

KXLY Spokane, Washington — Coast to Coast

From the Midwest, Donovan headed west to Spokane, Washington, joining KXLY as a weather forecaster. The Pacific Northwest brought an entirely different set of forecasting challenges: wildfire seasons that choked the region with smoke, extreme flooding events, and record snowfalls. Covering weather on both sides of the country gave her a versatility few local meteorologists can match — she could forecast lake-effect snow as credibly as wildfire smoke.

KSHB Kansas City, Missouri — Severe Weather Central

Her next stop was Kansas City, Missouri, where she worked as a field reporter for 41 Action News (KSHB), the Scripps-owned NBC affiliate. Kansas City sits on the edge of Tornado Alley, and the role put her squarely in severe-weather central: covering storms, reporting live from damage zones, and translating fast-moving weather threats for viewers. The experience sharpened the field-reporting instincts that still define her on-air work today.

WRTV Indianapolis, Indiana — The Utility Player (2018–2021)

Donovan spent three years at WRTV in Indianapolis (2018–2021) as a reporter and meteorologist. Colleagues there described her as the newsroom’s “utility player” — she worked every shift, anchored, reported, and regularly filled in at Scripps sister stations across the Midwest whenever they needed cover. That reputation for reliability and teamwork followed her to Chicago and ultimately helped earn her the anchor chair.

WGN-TV Chicago: Coming Home

Donovan joined WGN-TV in November 2021 as a reporter and fill-in meteorologist — a homecoming to her native Chicago area after a decade on the road. For a Chicago native, landing at WGN, the city’s storied independent station, was the career milestone she had been working toward since Peoria. She quickly became a familiar face on the station’s newscasts, filling in across weather shifts while reporting in the field.

Promotion to Weather Anchor (April 2024)

On 29 April 2024, WGN-TV promoted Donovan to weather anchor for WGN Midday News (11 a.m.–1 p.m.) and WGN Evening News (5 p.m.), as reported by TVNewsCheck. The promotion followed a major transition on the WGN weather team: legendary chief meteorologist Tom Skilling retired in early 2024, and Demetrius Ivory was elevated to chief meteorologist, opening the anchor chair Donovan now holds. WGN news director Dominick Stasi praised her “on-air presence, accuracy and teamwork” in announcing the move, per TVNewsCheck.

Alyssa Donovan Reporting Style and On-Air Presence

Donovan’s on-air style is versatile and team-oriented — the product of a career spent adapting to new markets and weather regimes. She has forecast tornadoes in Illinois, wildfires in Washington, severe storms in Kansas City, and lake-effect weather in Chicago, and that range shows in her delivery: calm under pressure, precise with detail, and comfortable moving between the weather wall and the field. Like FOX13 weather anchor Wendy Nations, Donovan represents a generation of broadcast meteorologists who pair formal forecasting credentials with strong field-reporting instincts.

Personal Life

Donovan keeps her personal life largely private, sharing little about her relationships on air or on social media. Bio-database sites report that she is engaged to Luke Thompson, with some describing wedding plans for 2025 — though neither Donovan nor WGN-TV has confirmed the reports, and the details remain unattributed. Away from work, she is an avid outdoorswoman who enjoys hiking and kayaking and has visited national parks across the country; as a child, she was active in dance.

Alyssa Donovan Net Worth and Salary: What Is Known

No authoritative source has publicly disclosed Alyssa Donovan’s salary or net worth, and neither she nor WGN-TV has commented on her compensation. Bio-aggregator websites estimate her salary at between $99,000 and $182,000 a year, with a net worth of around $900,000 — but these figures are unattributed estimates, not verified facts, and should be treated with caution. What is certain is that a weather anchor role at a major-market station like WGN-TV, in the country’s third-largest television market, ranks among the better-compensated positions in local broadcast news.

Community Involvement

Beyond the newsroom, Donovan volunteers with the American Heart Association and the Red Cross, supports lung cancer research advocacy, and regularly emcees charity fundraisers across the Chicago area — the kind of public-facing community role that local television anchors often embrace in their markets.

Identity Note

A quick note for searchers: Alyssa Donovan the meteorologist is not Elisa Donovan, the actress known for Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clueless. The similar names cause frequent confusion online, but they are two different people working in two different industries.

Frequently Asked Questions