Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard delivered Carleton’s convocation on Friday, February 20, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address, “Climate Change: A Global and Local Perspective,” was grounded in his personal expertise. 

Sundgaard’s passion for winter weather started when he began monitoring snowfall as an eighth-grade ski jumper, and has propelled him into a keystone of weather reporting in Minnesota. After years of doing the weather for KARE 11, Sundgaard started working as a meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio, where he currently reports on weather across the state. Amongst a variety of Minnesota organizations, he provides weather and climate content for BringMeTheNews.com and serves as a scientific adviser to the Minneapolis Foundation. 

Sundgaard’s interest in the weather is anchored by his passion for conservation, climate change, and social justice. With this in mind, Sundgaard has traveled and led group trips through the Arctic, Antarctic, and Sub-Arctic regions numerous times. He has proudly been to all seven continents. Sundgaard’s dedication to environmental education — and polar bears in particular — led him to lecture multiple times on climate change’s impacts on polar bears at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill Manitoba (on Hudson Bay). When he’s not busy with all of that, Sundgaard is a vlogger on Instagram and Facebook, as well as a licensed realtor in Minnesota, where he advocates for sustainable living options. 

Sundgaard earned his degree in meteorology from St. Cloud University in 2003. His research in thermodynamics won several undergraduate awards. 

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations