Jonathan R. Schmidt

I, like many of you, am looking forward to the long weekend. I would like to go canoeing with Darlene's family, but we will only go canoeing if the weather cooperates. With today's long term and short term weather forecasts we often look in anxious anticipation to what the weather is going to be for an upcoming long weekend. For example, last weekend our friends got married and I watched as the 7-day forecast changed from cold, 80% p.o.p. to sunny partly cloudy with a high 15 degrees. Having taken a few courses in climatology I do undestand the limitations of forecasting, especially for southern Ontario. Nonetheless there should be some accountability or maybe a reality check for those of us who actually believe the forecast might have some bearing on reality. Well, for this week I'm going to track the weather forecast for Kitchener for only Saturday May 20. The results will be posted below. I will try to track any changes in the 7-day forecast for Kitchener from theweathernetwork.ca and post them here.

Results (Date/Time & Forecast/High):

9:00am Mon May 15/06 - Sunny / 8 degrees / 0% p.o.p.
1:00pm Mon May 15/06 - Sunny / 14 degrees / 0% p.o.p.
7:00am Tues May 16/06 - Cloudy with showers / 13 degrees / 40% p.o.p.
4:00pm Tues May 16/06 - Cloudy with showers / 13 degrees / 40% p.o.p.
8:00am Wed May 17/06 - Cloudy with showers / 15 degrees / 40% p.o.p.
4:00pm Wed May 17/06 - Scattered showers / 15 degrees / 40% p.o.p.
9:00am Thu May 18/06 - Cloudy with showers / 18 degrees / 70% p.o.p.
9:00am Fri May 19/06 - Mainly sunny / 16 degrees / 10% p.o.p.
3:00pm Fri May 19/06 - Cloudy periods / 16 degrees / 0% p.o.p. (30% pop for AM)

We've all heard about the doom and gloom environmentalists: global warming is wiping out small islands, rainforests are being burned for agriculture, cars are polluting the air, corporate agriculture is affecting our drinking water and on and on. So what makes a recent 2500 page UN Report, stating that two-thirds of our ecosystems are at risk so unique? Well first of all the report was completed by 1300 scientists from 95 countries. Secondly, the report not only points the finger at the environmental destroyers from 'Western' nations, it also highlights the role that Asian countries can play in caring for our fragile planet. Finally, the report is significant because we obviously haven't been listening to any previous reports about the environment, because we are still destroying our planet at an alarming rate.

This term I am taking Geography 405 - Wetlands, and our major assignment is a group project where we have to evaluate whether a wetland should be deemed 'provincially significant' or not. Yesterday our group went out to our wetland to do some field study at our Cedar swamp just north of St. Agatha. I have posted some pictures of our wetland on the left. Hope you enjoy the pictures of our cedar swamp, including ferns, sedges, wildflowers and much more. One of the excitements of our wetland was when we scared a few grouse/partridge out of some cover. Happy wetland travels!
Here's some wetland links
Ducks Unlimited USA
Ducks Unlimited CAN