A heatwave hits Velsoft

At the Velsoft head office it doesn’t look like we’re experiencing a heatwave here in Nova Scotia. Cindy and Sandra have shawls draped around their shoulders. I’m sitting at my desk with a blanket across my lap, I’m shivering, and my teeth are chattering. Dylan is wearing a hoodie and I think I saw him put the hood on his head for a few minutes earlier today.

Since the summer heatwave began, we’ve been having two extremes in our building – some people are too cold, others are too warm.

Those Velsoftians who have walls around their desks are sweltering because the air conditioning doesn’t seem to reach them. Others have vents blowing directly on them, resulting in wearing winter clothes and covering up with blankets to try to keep warm.

Outside, the temperatures have been in the high 20s to low 30s for several weeks, with the humidity level making it feel hotter than the actual temperature — as high as 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees F), and prompting several heat warnings.

Although it’s been extremely hot, we shouldn’t complain because although the first modern air conditioning system was invented in 1902, it likely wasn’t in use where and when the highest temperature ever recorded in Nova Scotia occurred. That took place on Aug. 19, 1935 in Collegeville, which is located southwest of Antigonish. On that day, temperatures hit 38.3 degrees Celsius (100.94) degrees F).

Canada’s highest officially recorded temperature is 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees F) on July 5, 1937 at Midale and Yellow Grass, two small towns in southeastern Saskatchewan.

But this is still nowhere near the world’s highest temperature ever recorded, which took place on July 10, 1913 in Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California. According to the World Meteorological Organization, the temperature soared to 56.7 degrees C (134.1 degrees F) that day.

And while we’ve been having trouble getting to sleep at night because the temperatures aren’t dropping that much, at least it’s cooler than Quriyat in Oman. On June 26, the lowest temperature was 42.6 degrees C (108.7 degrees F), setting a new record for highest “low” temperature. The peak temperature in Quriyat that day was 49.8 degrees C (121.6 degrees F).

In Canada, folks were also having difficulty sleeping as Montreal logged its most extreme midnight combination of heat and humidity on July 2, with a temperature of 29.2 degrees C (84.6 F) and a humidex of 40.6 degrees C (105.1 F). The day before Ottawa broke the record of its most extreme combination of daytime heat and humidity, with a humidex reading of 47.1 degrees C (116.8 F).

But Canada isn’t the only country experiencing a heatwave this summer. Many countries in the northern hemisphere are also suffering through hotter than normal temperatures.

In early July, the temperature in Ouargla in Algeria’s Sahara Desert reached 51.3 degrees C (124.3 degrees F), surpassing Africa’s record of 50.7 degrees C (123.3 degrees F) set in 1961 in Morocco.

High temperature records were also broken this summer in Georgia, Armenia, southern Russia, Taiwan, and Japan.

As well, Scotland and Ireland set all-time record-high temperatures, with the hot sun causing train tracks to buckle, pavement to warp, tar on some roads to melt, and a roof at the Glasgow Science Centre to liquify and ooze down the side of the building.

Luckily no roads or roofs melted around here, like these objects did last summer in Phoenix, Arizona.

What’s in the Pipeline:

• Kevin is on vacation.
• Ben is completing a few external projects and starting some new ones.
• Carol is editing new courses and writing blogs.
• Chris is adding text-to-speech audio to our entire course library.
• Clare is out of the office for a few days.
• Jan is working on CA course components and eLearning QA.
• Sydney is working on custom projects and eLearning courses.
• Dylan is enhancing internal documents and proposals.

Course Count:

Courses released this month:

Microsoft Word Online

GDPR Readiness: Getting the Message Out

Here is the official count of courses for both courseware and eLearning, broken down by Computer and SoftSkills.

Tips for staying cool in a heatwave (if you don’t have access to air conditioning or a swimming area!):

• Stay hydrated. Sweating can cause dehydration, which makes you more susceptible to heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
• Eat small meals regularly, as metabolic heat is needed to break down food. Eating smaller portions can help keep you cooler because your body actually warms up to process larger meals.
• Immerse your feet in cold water, which will help cool down your whole body because of the pulse points located there.
• Keep the curtains closed during the daytime to block out the sun’s rays.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Alcohol dehydrates the body, and caffeine increases metabolic heat.
• Close your eyes and think about snow. It’s thought that your body will reduce its temperature as a reaction.

Cooling off at night:

• Sleep in loose cotton pajamas that let your skin breathe and soak up any sweat.
• Fill a sock with rice and place it in the freezer for about an hour. When it’s cold, press it on pulse points (wrists, neck, ankles, tops of feet, behind the knees). It will stay cold for about 30 minutes and won’t melt like ice.
• Place your sheets in a bag and then in the freezer to chill them before you put them on the bed and hit the hay. The cool sheets won’t keep you cool all night, but should help you to fall asleep.
• Make a homemade air conditioner by putting a shallow pan or bowl filled with ice in front of a fan. The draft will lift cold water from the surface of the ice as it melts and create a cool mist.
• Take a tepid, not cold, shower before going to bed. This will bring down your core body temperature. Water that’s too cold will cause your body to generate heat to offset the heat loss.
• Sleep alone and with arms and legs spread out, which is best for letting air circulate around your body and reducing body heat.