Ed Keiser
Meteorologist
About Ed
Meteorologist Ed Kieser is an expert in weather forecasting and analysis, specializing in broadcast meteorology and agricultural and severe weather. His decades of experience include an extensive background in weather forecasting, broadcasting, teaching, and public speaking.
Ed has been studying weather maps since he was a 10-year-old preparing elaborate weather presentations for his family. Growing up in the "snow belt" of northeast Ohio, Ed found plenty of weather phenomena to interest him.
His interest in weather led to a bachelor's degree and then a master's degree in meteorology from The Pennsylvania State University. His master’s thesis advisor was Dr. Greg Forbes, former severe weather expert for The Weather Channel. While at Penn State, Ed took a few classes in broadcasting and worked part-time as television weather anchor/producer for WNEP-TV in Scranton, a country music deejay for WGMR-FM in State College, and news anchor/producer for WPSU-FM in State College.
In 1987 Ed joined WILL Radio-TV-Online at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was Chief Meteorologist for 23 years. During his tenure he was a highly respected weather forecaster and expert in severe weather, including timely coverage during powerful F3 tornadoes that hit Decatur, Urbana, and Ogden in April 1996. At WILL Ed also became an expert in agricultural weather forecasting covering national and international corn, soybean, and wheat production areas.
A hallmark of Ed’s career has been public engagement, both on and off the air. On the air, the popular program “Talk to Ed” aired each Friday with listeners calling in with weather and weather-related travel questions. Off the air, Ed spoke to numerous school and civic groups each year on a variety of topics. For 20 years, he produced and presented public tornado safety shows attended by hundreds annually. He also produced and hosted tornado specials for WILL-TV. For his work Ed earned the University of Illinois Chancellor’s Academic Professional Excellence Award in 2002 and the University of Illinois Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement in 2006.
Ed holds the designation of “Certified Broadcast Meteorologist” from the American Meteorological Society. He was the 11th person in the county and 1st in Illinois to earn this distinction.
Ed's teaching experience includes nearly two decades as a part-time instructor of Introduction to Weather, a 4-credit laboratory science course, at Parkland College in Champaign. In recent years he has served as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Journalism at the University of Illinois teaching Journalism 427: Broadcast Meteorology.
Ed retired as a meteorologist at an energy company in Columbus, Ohio in 2025 and now looks forward to reconnecting with the Illinois Public Media audience.
Ed has been studying weather maps since he was a 10-year-old preparing elaborate weather presentations for his family. Growing up in the "snow belt" of northeast Ohio, Ed found plenty of weather phenomena to interest him.
His interest in weather led to a bachelor's degree and then a master's degree in meteorology from The Pennsylvania State University. His master’s thesis advisor was Dr. Greg Forbes, former severe weather expert for The Weather Channel. While at Penn State, Ed took a few classes in broadcasting and worked part-time as television weather anchor/producer for WNEP-TV in Scranton, a country music deejay for WGMR-FM in State College, and news anchor/producer for WPSU-FM in State College.
In 1987 Ed joined WILL Radio-TV-Online at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was Chief Meteorologist for 23 years. During his tenure he was a highly respected weather forecaster and expert in severe weather, including timely coverage during powerful F3 tornadoes that hit Decatur, Urbana, and Ogden in April 1996. At WILL Ed also became an expert in agricultural weather forecasting covering national and international corn, soybean, and wheat production areas.
A hallmark of Ed’s career has been public engagement, both on and off the air. On the air, the popular program “Talk to Ed” aired each Friday with listeners calling in with weather and weather-related travel questions. Off the air, Ed spoke to numerous school and civic groups each year on a variety of topics. For 20 years, he produced and presented public tornado safety shows attended by hundreds annually. He also produced and hosted tornado specials for WILL-TV. For his work Ed earned the University of Illinois Chancellor’s Academic Professional Excellence Award in 2002 and the University of Illinois Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement in 2006.
Ed holds the designation of “Certified Broadcast Meteorologist” from the American Meteorological Society. He was the 11th person in the county and 1st in Illinois to earn this distinction.
Ed's teaching experience includes nearly two decades as a part-time instructor of Introduction to Weather, a 4-credit laboratory science course, at Parkland College in Champaign. In recent years he has served as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Journalism at the University of Illinois teaching Journalism 427: Broadcast Meteorology.
Ed retired as a meteorologist at an energy company in Columbus, Ohio in 2025 and now looks forward to reconnecting with the Illinois Public Media audience.