The new "Hybrid."

Tonight on Newswatch weather we'll take a close look at the impact of climate change. A really close look. We have to get real close because the subject is small. Tonight we'll take a look at some great research out of Trent University on the impact of climate change on our Northern Flying Squirell population. Colin Garroway is doctoral candidate and research scientist at Trent and he believes that warmer winters will lead to a hybrid species. Essentially our local flying squirrells are "getting busy"with Southern Flying Squirrells and a new hybrid squirrell is the end result. The southern species were previously unable to withstand our cold winters but a warming trend has changed that. Very cool (although a bit nerdy) stuff. Check out Colin's research with the Kawartha Flying Squirell project by clicking here. Oh...and enjoy tomorrow because we could see rain for Sunday.

Staying cool on the cheap.

Well the summer heat is here. Highs of around 28 or 29 degrees can be expected to round out the week and it weel feel well into the low to mid 30's factoring in the humidex. If you're like me and you just hate to to turn on the air conditioning (I'm cheap) here are some tips to help you stay cool on a budget.

• Keep the air moving. Turn on the ceiling fan in and open up the windows (at night). If you don’t have a ceiling fan use a floor model. A nice breeze actually disturbs the very thin layer of air that acts like insulation around your body. We call this “windchill” in the winter.
  
• Head to the basement. Warm air is less dense than cooler air and so it rises. Cool air will stay in the lower levels of your home so the basement rec-room is the place to be.
  
• Get wet! Go for a swim, have a cool shower or even wet your tee shirt or wrap a wet bandana around your head or neck. As the water evaporates it will transfer the heat from your body to the atmosphere where it is stored as latent heat.
  
• Drink water. Drink lots. The more you drink the more your body can regulate temperature through perspiration. Unfortunately alcoholic and sugary beverages will work against you…although I’m not dropping beer out of my diet.

Hopefully you find these tips helpful...a lot of them are common sense. People tend to just fluff these well know ideas off but they are really effective and a lot easier on the hydro bill.

Oh and I promised a good friend over at KRUZ FM that I would "plug" his blog here on my weather blog. Gord has always been a great help promoting Newswatch and the weather blog so please check out the "Gibberish" blog by clicking here.