The entry period is now over for the 2026 edition of
the UW weather station contest.

Now we wait for the winning temperature.

After a second very harsh winter, which might go down as
the coldest in about a decade, perhaps people are thinking
even more about when it will first hit 20C.

And a special note that this year's contest is dedicated to
the memory of Jayson Innes. Jay was instrumental in the early
days of the station and in particular with the setup and
implementation of the contest. Sadly he lost his battle with
cancer late last year.

Here are some details about the contest:

The challenge is to guess the exact date and time the E.D. Soulis
Memorial Weather Station at the Unviersity of Waterloo will first
register a temperature of 20.0 degrees or greater. In case nobody
guesses the exact time, the winner will be the person closest to
the correct time.

Thanks to Wayne Jenkinson for the UW Weather Station Contest banner
seen at the top of this page.


As a reference, here are the previous winning dates and times:

Year Month Day Time
1998 March 27 1:00 pm
1999 April 3 1:00 pm
2000 March 8 12:00 pm
2001 April 8 12:15 pm
2002 April 11 4:45 pm
2003 April 15 12:00 pm
2004 April 18 5:30 pm
2005 April 18 2:30 pm
2006 April 19 2:15 pm
2007 March 26 3:15 pm
2008 April 17 4:00 pm
2009 April 18 1:30 pm
2010 April 1 1:00 pm
2011 April 10 3:30 pm
2012 March 16 3:30 pm
2013 April 18 12:45 pm
2014 April 13 5:00 pm
2015 April 13 11:45 am
2016 April 16 2:30 pm
2017 April 10 1:45 pm
2018 May 1 10:00 am
2019 May 6 11:15 am
2020 May 13 3:15 pm
2021 April 8 12:30 pm
2022 April 13 10:45 am
2023 April 11 12:15 pm
2024 April 8 12:30 pm
2025 April 11 12:15 pm
The rules:

1. The temperature listed on the weather station is rounded up to the nearest 0.1 of a degree. Thus, the winning time will technically be the first time the temperature is 19.950 degrees Celsius or higher after 12:01 am March 1, 2026.

2. Two people will NOT be allowed to have the same time, hence please check the calendar to make sure that nobody else has already chosen the time and date you are entering.

3. Only one entry per person and e-mail adress will be accepted.

4. All times used in the contest will be local time (ie. at 2:00 am March 8 we will start to use Daylight Saving Time).

5. All entries must be submitted by 10:00 am EST, Feb 27th 2026.

6. In case of a tie, the person with the closest guess prior to the correct time will win.

7. Any rulings made by the contest organizer (Frank Seglenieks) are final.