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Answer Man: What's the evidence for climate change?

Oh, Answer Man, I'm still obsessed with the weather. The weekend snowstorm and this Wednesday's forecast have got me seriously thinking about hibernation again.

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Jerry Swanson blows snow from the sidewalk Saturday near his northeast Rochester home.

Oh, Answer Man, I’m still obsessed with the weather. The weekend snowstorm and this Wednesday’s forecast have got me seriously thinking about hibernation again. About the only positive I can think of is that this should shut up the global warming alarmists. — Dave

Dave and I had a cordial exchange last week about spring snowstorms last week. But I think we’re about to hit an impasse.

Climate scientists will tell you that extreme precipitation is a symptom of global warming . A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, increasing the potential for summer floods and winter snows. That means we’re supercharging the storms that would have formed anyway and causing more extreme weather.

Don’t believe me? Maybe you’ll take the word of Paul Douglas, longtime Twin Cities meteorologist, who was once a climate-change skeptic. Douglas, who’s registered Republican and evangelical Christian, wonders why climate-change denial is a litmus test in conservative circles.

"Being open to data, facts and science doesn’t make you a liberal," he writes in his book "Caring for Creation: An Evangelical’s Guide to Climate Change and a Healthy Environment" published in October 2016. "It makes you literate. Scientifically literate. It means you favor data, facts and evidence over conspiracy theories, manufactured misinformation and cherry-picked industry spins."

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Douglas will be featured at 7 p.m. Wednesday on TPT, Channel 2, on the science series "Nova." The episode, entitled "Decoding the Weather Machine," was filmed partially at Douglas’ weather-technology companies in Eden Prairie. It also will air 7 p.m. Monday on KSMQ, Channel 13.

Commenting on the frequency of what have been called thousand-year floods, he asks, "How many times does it have to happen before it’s not a fluke, but it’s a trend?"

Douglas, who does dozens of speaking engagements every year, frequently quotes philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer when confronted by climate-change skeptics.

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident."

Take another look at the evidence, Dave. With up to 6 inches of snow in Wednesday’s forecast, you probably won’t be getting out. Tune in to the Nova documentary and watch with an open mind.

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