Paul Douglas

Paul Douglas is a nationally-respected meteorologist, with 34 years of broadcast television and 36 years of radio experience. In high school Kruhoeffer adopted a stage name, after being told his real name was too difficult for the station’s DJ’s to pronounce. Douglas graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Meteorology from the Pennsylvania State University in 1980. While a senior at Penn State University he broadcast the weekend weather for WNEP-TV in Wilkes Barre/Scranton – where he was promoted to the weekday position in 1980. He was the second TV meteorologist in the country to tap computer graphics for his daily weathercasts. In 1982-1983 he worked at Satellite News Channel in Stamford, Connecticut, delivering 21 national weather shows daily. He was also tapped for appearances with Ted Koppel on ABC News Nightline.

From 1983 to 1994 Douglas was employed by KARE-TV in Minneapolis, where he launched the “Backyard” outdoor weather format, now being used by hundreds of TV stations nationwide. While there he began a daily weather column in the Star Tribune newspaper. He authored a book, “Prairie Skies, the Minnesota Weather Book”, and taught a broadcast meteorology class at the Saint Cloud State University in 1992-93. His most recent weather-related book, Restless Skies, the Ultimate Weather Book, was released nationwide by Barnes and Noble in late 2004, now coming out of its second printing (Sterling Publishing). He taught broadcast meteorology at St. Cloud State University in 1992. Douglas visited thousands of Minnesota schools and service organizations, talking about weather prediction and storm-chasing.

In 1989, while still at KARE-TV, Douglas founded a software venture: EarthWatch Communications. Hundreds of television stations in the United States and 20 other countries licensed EarthWatch’s three-dimensional weather graphics technology. In addition to applications for television, Steven Spielberg employed the special 3-D effects in the movies “Jurassic Park” and “Twister.”

From 1994 to 1997 Douglas worked at WBBM-TV in Chicago, where he made occasional appearances on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. Douglas received a Seal of Approval from the AMS, The American Meteorological Society. In 2005 he passed a rigorous exam to become Minnesota’s first CBM, or Certified Broadcast Meteorologist, recognized by the AMS in Boston. He served as Chief Meteorologist for WCCO-TV in the Twin Cities from 1997 to 2008. He makes monthly appearances on Public Television’s Almanacprogram where he discusses current weather trends and issues. He currently provides daily weather reports (print, video and web) for the Star Tribune, additional daily blogs for the St. Cloud Times, Conservation Minnesota, and “WeatherNation”.

In 1998 Douglas founded Digital Cyclone, Inc (DCI), which personalized the weather forecasting experience for consumers on the web, e-mail and cell phones. His goal: create personal weather channels for every consumer on a new generation of data-enabled cell phones. The service, Mobile My-Cast, is currently available on iTunes and Android platforms, enabling consumers to see location-based weather alerts and hourly weather reports and even see custom weather graphics, including Doppler radar, lightning and severe storm tracking, on cell phones, making the weather experience unique for every user. In January, 2007 Douglas sold DCI to Garmin, Inc, the leader in global navigation systems, for $45 million. There were over 100 local, Minnesota investors in Digital Cyclone.

Founder and President of the Media Logic Group LLC, Douglas and a team of 12 on-air meteorologists at Broadcast Weather are producing and disseminating daily weather reports for web sites, newspapers, cable channels, and TV broadcasters from 3 HD studios in the Minneapolis area. In 2011 Douglas helped to launch a new, national weather channel, WeatherNation TV, a headline-weather service that provides meteorological information and storm coverage, 24/7. A separate subsidiary, HamWeather, provides custom data and graphics services to nearly 1,000 web sites, nationwide. Polaris, among other cutting-edge companies, is tapping Ham Weather’s developers and a new generation of location-specific apps, tying in with social media to enhance consumer engagement and satisfaction. Weather is becoming more extreme; a new company, Alerts Broadcaster, provides real-time alerts for local companies and national Fortune 500 corporations, including, Wells Fargo and Lifetime Fitness, attempting to provide an extra level of safety and security for staff and clients, nationwide.

Douglas is co-founder of Singular Logic, a separate technology and patent-holding company, attempting to reinvent advertising by allowing consumers to choose the categories of ads they have to watch on their PC’s, TV sets, cable systems and mobile.

A third company, Smart Energy is focused on fine-tuning forecasts for wind farms, utilities and energy traders, with optimization algorithms extending into the HVAC and irrigation markets. Teaming with La Cross Technology, an additional company, Data Direct launched in 2012, providing data and support for a new generation of consumer and corporate weather sensors – deployed to maximize efficiencies, save money and personalize alerting services.

Douglas is heading up The Legal Storm, focusing on forensic meteorology, working with law firms on weather-related cases – helping with cases related to severe weather and subsequent damage and or injury to maximize results for their clients. Options include heavily researched White Papers, and expert testimony. His company runs high-resolution weather models and maintains multiple databases focused on pinpointing weather conditions for any location in the USA, looking back decades.

Born in 1958, Douglas became interested in weather and public service at a young age. After suffering through a devastating tropical storm (Agnes) in 1972, which flooded much of his hometown of Lancaster, PA, he developed a network of flood gauges, which were monitored by ham radio operators during flash flood situations. At the age of 16 he became Weather Officer for Lancaster Country Civil Defense. An Eagle Scout, Douglas still teaches weather and astronomy merit badge to fellow scouts. He’s actively involved with the Northern Star Council of the Boy Scouts.

He is the spokesperson and public face of “SAVE”, Suicide Awareness, Voices of Education, a non-profit company based in Bloomington, which counsels people suffering from depression, educates the public about warning signs, and helps to identify at-risk people nationwide.

Douglas, age 54, continues to volunteer his time for school talks, charitable fund-raisers and speaking engagements on such topics as his entrepreneurial career, tornado chasing and climate change. He serves on the Climate Science Rapid Response Team (CSRRT), providing meteorological input along with 130+ climate scientists delivering highly accurate science information to media and government representatives. He is also on the board of NRPE, The National Religious Partnership for the Environment, focused on finding faith-based solutions to the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.

His wife of 28 years, Laurie, is a professional architect. They have two sons: Walt graduated from Penn State and is an accomplished guitarist, multimedia producer & videographer for Media Logic Group; Brett graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in May, 2012 and will fly fixed wing jets or helicopters for the Navy. Douglas and his wife live in Minnesota; where his offices are located.

Presentations at Calvin University

Climate Change: Natural Cycle or Troubling Trend
Part of the: January Series
Tuesday, January 21, 2014 12:30:00 PM
Covenant Fine Arts Auditorium

Publication(s) for this event