June brought the heat and the rain

"At two and a half degrees above average, it was a very hot month," reports Frank Seglenieks, coordinator of the University of Waterloo Weather Station.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone who happened to be around Waterloo these past few weeks. The maximum temperature reached last month was 32.5 degrees Celsius, with the minimum at 7.1 degrees. The average daily high temperature was 24.9 degrees Celsius.

"However, the longest hot streak only lasted for 3 days, so we never had to wait long for some relief from the heat," Seglenieks reports.

And before anyone says 'yeah, man, but it's a dry heat,' Seglenieks reminds us that "it was a crazy rainy start to the month with the wettest single day of the year so far (56.7 mm) happening June 1st." This was almost as much precipitation in a single day as during the entire months of April and May combined (57.9 mm). The rest of June only had 50.9 mm, with the latter half of the month being relatively dry.

As hot as June was, says Seglenieks, you only have to go back to 2005 to find a hotter one. And there's the rub: June 2012's temperatures, taken by themselves, are not very noteworthy, but it is the cumulative effect of many months of above average temperatures that has made this the hottest 12 month period since records began in the area almost 100 years ago. "Until recently the warmest 12 month period in the region was the calendar year of 1998, when the average temperature was 8.98 degrees Celsius," reads the weather station report. "With the warm winter we had, combined with the record-breaking, extremely hot March, the average for July 2011 to June 2012 was 9.30 degrees C. This solidly beats 1998 and is well above the 1971-2000 average annual temperature of 6.7 degrees Celsius."

The University of Waterloo Weather Station maintains a blog and welcomes comments.

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Events website and calendar relaunched

The uWaterloo events website has undergone a transformation to meet security requirements, reports Eva Grabinski, Director of Digital Initiatives in Communications and Public Affairs. The newest incarnation of the website launched June 26 and is in the university's central web content management system (WCMS).

If the current crop of event listings is looking a little sparse, it's because events submitted before the launch of the new website must be re-submitted in the new system.

There are two ways to submit events to the calendar:

Members of the university's Communications Council have been added as WCMS content authors and can log into the site using their WatIAM credentials and submit events directly, with Communications and Public Affairs staff reviewing and publishing the submitted events. A WCMS training video is available for instructions and a refresher on how to submit an event in the content management system.

For everyone else, events can be submitted via a web form on the new event website.

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Professor nabs Premier's Collaboration Award

Roland Hall, Department of Biology professor and associate dean of Science for Graduate Studies, was among a team of recipients of the Northwest Territories Premier's Collaboration Award, which recognizes "the outstanding achievement of Government of the Northwest Territories employees in teams who work in partnership with other government and non-government employees to improve services to Northwest Territories' residents."

Professor Hall is part of the "Slave River and Delta Partnership, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Partners" project, which was cited for identifying activities and opening the "lines of communication for partnerships with communities concerning aquatic ecosystem health." The project is developing a community-based monitoring program for the Slave River and Slave River Delta. Hall, working with adjunct professor in Biology and associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, co-led a research project to asses past changes in contaminant delivery by the Slave River "to address concerns of residents of Forth Chipewyan about effects of upstream Alberta oil sands development on water quality."

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Of daycare and construction crane awareness

The Paintin' Place Co-operative Daycare, located in UW Place, still has a few spaces available in September for both toddler (ages 16 months to 2.5 years) and preschool (ages 2.5 to 6 years) care. With more than 30 years of childcare experience under their belts, "the programs at Paintin' Place Co-operative Daycare Inc. are designed to provide the children with positive learning experiences in a loving and safe environment," says their website. "The teachers encourage, support and challenge the children in their development as individuals and group members. During each day, the children are involved in stimulating and fun activities that help them to develop socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually." Interested parties should contact the daycare centre at 519-888-4030 or paintpl@ uwaterloo.ca for more information.

"Please note that there will be a noticeable increase in construction traffic at the DWE site July 9th to 11th inclusive," writes Byron Murdock, Plant Operations' major projects construction co-ordinator. "An excavation is scheduled for those dates resulting in increased truck traffic."

Furthermore, "on July 12, closure of one lane of the ring road and the sidewalk in the vicinity of the University Avenue pedestrian overpass will occur to facilitate a large crane that will be placing underground storage tanks on the site," Murdock reports. "Traffic control will be evident for the duration of the excavation and placement of the storage tanks."

"Please exercise caution and obey the flagmen," Murdock concludes, noting that the schedule could be affected by inclement weather.

Other notes before the weekend:

President Feridun Hamdullahpur is participating in a panel discussion entitled "Research: Who's Leading the International Agenda?" at the Association of Commonwealth Universities' Members' Day seminar in London, UK today.

David (Dave) Mason (right), who has worked at the university for 36 years, is retiring at the end of the month, and his colleagues in Information Systems and Technology are organizing a retirement party in his honour on Tuesday, July 31 in South Campus Hall's Laurel Room from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. RSVP to Liz Doede, administrative assistant, Information Systems and Technology, at edoede@ uwaterloo.ca.

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