Minnesota Stories:

Paul Douglas Has a New Green Job — With Conservation Minnesota

A trusted and familiar face to millions of Minnesotans is doing our local and state weather forecasts again — and he’s teaming with Conservation Minnesota to do it.

This April, veteran meteorologist Paul Douglas and his WeatherNation staff of seven on-air meteorologists launched a state-of-the-art weather site on the web. The site www.mnweathercenter.org delivers Douglas’ patented personal approach to daily weather and long-term climate.

In addition to twice-a-day Minnesota forecasts on streaming video, the site has regularly updated graphic forecasts, maps, radar and satellite loops and current conditions for Rochester, Duluth, Bemidji, St. Cloud and Marshall. Also available on video are daily regional and national weather forecasts.

From Thursday through Sunday the site carries a statewide “Minnesota Outdoor Forecast” with information relevant to those who fish, boat, hunt, camp, backpack or otherwise enjoy Minnesota’s natural resources.

“Our whole approach is about telling Minnesota stories and there’s no better or more authentic Minnesota voice than Paul Douglas,” said Conservation Minnesota Executive Director Paul Austin. “He makes the daily weather interesting, fun and educational, and he does the same for long-term climate trends too.”

“I’m grateful to Conservation Minnesota for connecting the dots and seeing an opportunity to try and reinvent weather for Minnesotans,” said Douglas. “On-line is the best place to tell the weather story; we can combine video streaming with personalized maps and forecasts to reach a new level of storytelling that isn’t possible with older, legacy media. It’s the future, and I’m proud to be teaming with such a visionary organization.”

“What also appealed to me was a chance to combine cutting-edge weather technology with a venue to display climate stories of interest to Minnesotans, to keep the dialogue going.”

Douglas has spent 33 years in broadcasting, radio, television, web production, print and environmental reporting. He has spent nearly his entire career in the Twin Cities. Douglas started EarthWatch, the first company to bring 3-D weather graphics to broadcasters in 1991. In 1998 he started Digital Cyclone, which released the first cell phone weather application in 2001. Garmin purchased Digital Cyclone in 2007, allowing Douglas to focus his efforts on his next venture, WeatherNation.

Douglas teamed with Barnes and Noble to write a book on national weather: “Restless Skies, the Ultimate Weather Book.” He has taught college classes on broadcast meteorology and lectured extensively on climate change. His software was used in Steven Spielberg’s movies Jurassic Park and Twister, and his reporting and television weathercasting has garnered AP Awards and a local Emmy.

Married to an architect, Douglas lives less than two minutes from the HD-quality WeatherNation studios west of Minneapolis. His oldest son, Walt, is a junior at Penn State. Brett, his younger son, is finishing up his first year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Paul Douglas Talks Minnesota Climate
In a luncheon talk at the Conservation Minnesota offices April 28, Paul Douglas made observations on changing state and global climate to an audience of CM supporters.

The overwhelming weight of evidence, he said, supports the global warming hypothesis. Carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, is at its highest level in 50,000 years and on track to climb another 25% or more by the year 2050.

“There’s been a gradual drip, drip, drip of evidence over the years,” said Douglas, who added he reserved judgment on the theory until the scientific community reached near-consensus. Still, he says, he receives calls and e-mails from lay skeptics every time the weather turns cold in winter.

“Weather is CNN Headline News. Climate is the History Channel. Whether you should wear shorts or long johns tomorrow is weather. The ratio of shorts to long johns in your closet is climate.”

The winter of 2008-09 seemed brutal to many Minnesotans, because of a previous string of unusually warm winters. But Douglas pointed out it was merely an average winter by long-term standards.

The global warming hypothesis is supported in Minnesota by the appearance of birds, plants and insects never before seen here, he said. On trips to far northern Minnesota, for example, locals tell him of seeing black maple trees for the first time. Five of the six warmest years in recorded global history have occurred since 2001. The deaths of more than 22,000 people in the U.S. have been attributed to climate change.

The forecast for Minnesota is for reduced overall precipitation, with the driest conditions likely in the far southwest part of the state. Snow will continue to fall, but will melt faster, and the incidence of extreme weather events is likely to grow. High-humidity summer days will increase, with uncomfortable dew points in the 70s.

“We need to be cleaner and smarter in our energy production,” Douglas said. “There’s a lot we can do to lessen the threat.”