Mike Caplan

WLS-Channel 7 parted company Thursday with Mike Caplan after 21 years as meteorologist in a move that came just five weeks after the ABC-owned station added Cheryl Scott to its full-time weather staff.

Jennifer Graves, vice president and news director of ABC 7, is expected to announce new assignments Friday for the weather staff that includes Scott, chief meteorologist Jerry Taft, Tracy Butler and Phil Schwarz. Taft recently extended his contract through July 2016.

“The powers that be have decided to take the weather department in a direction that no longer includes me,” Caplan wrote on Facebook, announcing that Thursday was his last day at the station. “It has been a thrill for me to be on tv in the area in which I grew up. I look forward to carving out a new chapter in my professional life, and with the support of friends and my wonderful family, I am confident wonderful challenges and opportunities lay ahead.”

ABC 7 officials did not respond to requests for comment on Caplan’s release.

Caplan, a north suburban native and graduate of Illinois State University, joined ABC 7 in 1994 from WTVD-TV, the ABC-owned station in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina. Originally hired as weekday morning weatherman, Caplan proved a bad fit for the morning show and soon shifted to weekends and later to weekday afternoons and fill-in duties.

Scott, who joined ABC 7 last month after three years at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, initially was assigned to the new 7 p.m. weekday newscast produced for Weigel Broadcasting WCIU-Channel 26 and fill-in duties at ABC 7.