MINNEAPOLIS - For longtime meteorologist and WCCO radio host Paul Douglas, the clouds of climate change took years to see.
Were you cynical about climate change?
"Sure, everybody starts or should start from a point of skepticism. Throughout the 80s and most of the 90s I just didn't' think there was enough evidence?" Douglas told KARE 11's Chris Hrapsky.
Why? What was missing?
"I think its funny, we are wired to experience weather, none of us are wired to experience climate. You don't look out the window and see climate. But if you get clubbed over the head repeatedly and experience jaw-dropping historic weather events, it stops being a fluke, an aberration and it starts becoming a trend."
"At first I thought I was imagining, I thought maybe it was my meds, maybe I was hallucinating. And I reached out to other meteorologists and they were seeing the same things. Some of them not excited to be talking about it on the air," Douglas continued. "As you know, if you try to connect the dots and you whisper climate change, you are going to alienate maybe 30 percent of the audience who think it's a scam, a hoax, a liberal conspiracy. No. No. No."
"There's more water in the air, you warm up the air two degrees, that's 8 percent more water vapor, that's jet fuel for these storms which drives these intense summer rains. The Minnesota DNR estimates we've had 16 mega-rain events (six inches or more.) Sixteen of these since 1858 when Minnesota became a state, of those 16, nine have taken place since 2000."
On Wednesday's new NOVA documentary on your local PBS station. Douglas will be one of many meteorologists to feature their experiences with climate change.
"Nova really still is the gold standard when it comes to documentaries…science documentaries. They were intrigued with trying to present climate change with a different framing and different perspective. Instead of having climate scientist they actually were intrigued with the idea of meteorologists seeing some of the apparent symptoms of climate volitivity showing up. on the weather maps," Douglas said.
Douglas, a Conservative and a Christian, understands how his change of mind on climate change may appear to some...and to that...he has no apologies.
"I think it's a sign of maturity to be able to change your mind on something. We all live in bubbles and we sort of filter out news that maybe threatens our worldview our political beliefs …but this isn't about polar bears. This is about our kids and grandkids and the legacy we are going to leave to them."
"At some point, your kids are going to ask you…what did you know when and what did you do?"