October 5, 2026 — October 11, 2026
The water on a walk, the water in the air, and what's in a sauce
Three new library additions follow historic trail-water reports, England's potential evaporation, and an older Canadian food-inspection survey.
A long walk, a hot day, and dinner do not seem to have much in common. Yet each asks us to notice the gap between what we expect and what a record can actually tell us. This week's three additions are all historical data, each with a useful question and a firm limit.
01 / Environment Agency / UK National Data Library
How thirsty could the air be?
England and nearby grid cells · one-kilometre squares · daily estimates from 1961 onward, refreshed monthly
The Environment Agency turns weather-station records into estimates of how much water well-watered grass could lose to the air. One version includes water caught by vegetation; the other does not. The archive is split into downloadable years, and a 'day' runs from 9 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Why it's worth exploring
Pick a familiar place and compare several summers: when was the atmosphere's demand for water unusually high? This is not a measure of what soil actually lost. Rain, plants, and water availability matter before that becomes a story about drought.
England Potential Evapotranspiration, 1961–202602 / USGS Washington Water Science Center
A trail map with important blank spaces
Pacific Crest Trail in California, Oregon, and Washington · reported water sources from May 2012 to September 2024
Hikers contributed reports about water sources to the Pacific Crest Trail Water Report. USGS arranged records of flowing and dry locations into a downloadable map layer. Some location and stream-matching checks have not been done, and reports are not a complete survey of every stretch of trail.
Why it's worth exploring
Where do reports cluster, and where might a blank stretch mean no observation rather than no water? Compare reports across seasons to frame questions, not to plan a hike: these past reports cannot tell you where drinking water is safe today.
Pacific Crest Trail Water-Source Observations, 2012–202403 / Canadian Food Inspection Agency
What didn't make it onto the label?
Canada · 250 samples of sauces, marinades, and dressings collected in 2010–2011
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency tested selected products for priority allergens and gluten that might not have appeared on their labels. The CSV was published this week, but the food was sampled more than a decade ago. Different tests can appear for the same sample.
Why it's worth exploring
Which kinds of products were tested, and what does the sampling design leave out? The records can teach us how inspections look for hidden ingredients. They cannot tell us the risk of buying a particular sauce today, or rank brands by safety.
Undeclared Allergens in Canadian Sauces, 2010–2011All three are new to this library, not observations made this week. The U.S. trail file and Canadian survey were published this week from older records; England's longer-running dataset entered the UK national catalog on October 9. We also looked for newly opened live feeds, but none passed the source, access, and licence checks this week.
These reports cover additions to our library, not necessarily newly published data. Check the dataset notes and official sources for coverage dates, licensing, and limits on use.