'He would have been very happy': University of Waterloo renames weather station after 25 years

New name for UW Weather Station The new name honours a late professor who championed the project over 25 years ago. Colton Wiens reports.

After more than 25 years since it started recording data the University of Waterloo Weather Station is now officially the Eric D. (Ric) Soulis Memorial Weather Station.

The name honours the late professor Eric Soulis, also known as Ric, who was the driving force behind its creation. Soulis was a hydrologist and civil engineering professor. He passed away suddenly in 2018.

“I am thrilled, because Ric as a faculty member here, loved his jobs, loved his students and loved his research looking at weather and climate,” Carol Moogk-Soulis, Soulis’ widow said.

His widow said Soulis always celebrated the stations milestones and the collaboration it took to create it. He was ecstatic to see the community embrace it. She remembers one time, when he found out the weather stations website was the second most visited University of Waterloo site, only trailing the library.

Moogk-Soulis said during the early years of the station, there were times people doubted if it was useful. Soulis continued to show the community how it helped, and it continued to grow in popularity.

“I think he would have been very happy, but he didn't do it to get his name put on it. He did it because he thought it would be a really great thing to have, and he thought it would be a really useful resource, and he was right,” Carol Moogk-Soulis said.

The university started creating the station in 1997. It first started recording data on Feb. 28, 1998.

“Literally we had a phone in our office that actually had to dial up to a modem to a wire that was actually connected to a greenhouse about 200 metres away to our station. That's how we actually got the data. Of course today we do it by cellphone,” Frank Seglenieks, coordinator of the Eric D. (Ric) Soulis Memorial Weather Station said.

The station updates readings every 15 minutes, measuring things like precipitation, pressure levels and temperature.

“I've heard schools, certain times if the wind chill is under a certain amount, they won't let kids go out for recess. There's been factories that say on the other side, if the humidex is over a certain amount they have to take extra breaks,” Seglenieks said.

The station is not officially an Environment Canada monitor, but it is used for educational and research purposes by the school, and provides a more local reading for residents.

“Especially Waterloo of course in this area can access this site and get the more local information. But more data is always better data,” Seglenieks said.

Faculty said they now have 25 years of data showing weather patterns in the community. They said consistency is the key to keeping the weather station going, and they hope it can continue serving the community for years to come.