February 22, 2006 Source: University of Waterloo:
http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=4686 UW weather station contest asks, 'When will it top 20 C?' WATERLOO, Ont. (Feb. 22, 2006) -- The University of Waterloo weather station is again holding its annual contest to predict the arrival of spring-like weather. The station, which will be eight years old on Feb. 27, issues this challenge: Guess the date and time when the recorded temperature at the station will first rise above 20 C. "We have had a record warm winter so far and it will be interesting to see how that will affect the spring temperatures," said Frank Seglenieks, station coordinator. Details on how to enter the contest are on the main weather station webpage at www.weather.uwaterloo.ca. The deadline to enter is next Monday (Feb. 27) at 3 p.m. Last year's contest had more than 600 entrants. The person closest to the correct time will have a choice of two prizes: a modern digital indoor/outdoor thermometer or a classic copper outdoor thermometer. The second closest person will receive the prize not chosen by the winner. Seglenieks said that in the seven years of operation of the weather station, the earliest day that the temperature hit 20 degrees was March 8 in 2000, while for the last two years the date was April 18 -- the latest it has occurred. The research weather station, located on UW's north campus, has all the equipment of a Class A station with equipment provided by Environment Canada and Alberta-based Campbell Scientific. The station is used for both educational and research purposes. As part of an upper-year project course, a group of UW civil engineering students found a suitable location for the station, designed the instrument structure and erected it. Another group of students designed a website that shows the current readings from the station as well as an archive of weather data going back to 1998. "The website is very popular, averaging about 2,000 hits (visits) a day," Seglenieks said. Since April 2000, the website has had over four million hits. The types of data available from the station include current temperature, wind chill, precipitation, relative humidity/dew point, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure and incoming radiation. Gardeners, landscapers, engineering consultants and schoolchildren are among the people who have used the current readings and the archives from the station.
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