March 16, 2016 Night

Good evening! Currently on and off rain with occasional claps of thunder at 53 degrees with a 16 mph northwest wind.

Tonight continued showers are likely along with thunderstorms before midnight, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between midnight and 2am, then isolated showers after 2am. Patchy fog after 5am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 42. Northwest wind 9 to 14 mph becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. That’s about 16 degrees above normal. The record low of -1 degrees was set back in 1916.

Tonight will have 11 hours and 57 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over last night. Tomorrow the sun will rise at 7:01 am with the first light at 6:33 am, which is 1 minutes and 45 seconds earlier then today.

Tonight we have the First Quarter Moon with 50% illuminated. It will set at 1:25 am. March’s Full Worm Moon is is on Tuesday.

Thursday will be isolated showers between noon and 1pm, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Some of the storms could produce small hail and gusty winds. Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 58. Southwest wind 5 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. That’s about 13 degrees above normal. The record high of 75 degrees was set back in 1990.

The average high in four weeks on Thursday April 14th is 57 degrees, and the record for that date is 87 degrees was set back in 1977. Hard to believe that a month from now we will be halfway through April and if the mild late winter / early spring continues, things in the city will be greening up.

I was super impressed by Dan McCoy speaking at the Save the Pine Bush Dinner. He was a very articulate speaker and talked and answered questions for nearly two hours without talking points or staff assistance. He seemed to be incredibly knowledgeable about conservation issues and pretty sure passionate about it too. I thought his working class roots and tone combined with his knowledge of the issues was impressive.

All and all it was a pretty good Save the Pine Bush Dinner. We had good turn out and things got cleaned up in a prompt fashion despite having the speaker run a bit longer than expected.

I continue to have a bit of a cold/allergy. I don’t know what is wrong but I’m not getting better, or like it seems it comes and goes. Maybe it’s a weather thing. If I don’t improve, I may go and talk to my doctor. But usually it does improve after a few days.

But other than that it was a pretty good day. Looking forward to getting out of work at 5 pm on one of these days when the sun is shining and quite nice, so I can go down to the park.

I hope you had a good day. Sleep well!

March 16, 2016 Morning

Good morning! What day is it? Save the Pine Bush Dinner Day, of course. Currently partly cloudy, clearing to the east and 47 degrees with a 6 mph north-northwest wind.

More important than the weather is the fact that the Save the Pine Bush Dinner is at 6 PM at the First Presbyterian Church on Chestnut St in downtown, across the street from the Alfred E. Newman State Office Building. Tonight’s featured speaker is Albany County Executive Dan McCoy. Should be a very interesting couple of hours but I may be late due to work.

People ask why I spend so much time blogging about the weather. I think Simon and Garfunkel got it right with Β I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 64. That’s a little more optimistic then WNYT’s forecast. Light and variable wind becoming north around 6 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. That’s about 20 degrees above normal. This time of year I like days 20 degrees above normal but not so much mid-summer unless I’m at the Potholers. The record high of 82 degrees was set back in 1990.

Tonight the sun will set at 7:04 pm with darkness around 7:32 pm, which is 1 minutes and 10 seconds later than yesterday. For the first time this year, we will have more daylight then darkness with 12 hours and 1 minutes of daylight, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have occasional showers, mainly before 4am. Low around 45. South wind 9 to 14 mph becoming light after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. That’s about 19 degrees above normal. The record low of -1 degrees was set back in 1916.

There are 1 month, 6 days until Earth Day when the sun will be setting at 7:46 pm. The average high temperature for Earth Day is 61 degrees, with a record high of 86 in 1985.

Today in 1968,Β General MotorsΒ produces its 100 millionth automobile, theΒ Oldsmobile Toronado. That front wheel drive car was the first American front wheel drive car of mass-production. It used a chain drive and was the basis of many airport limousines and the popular GM motor homes of the 1970.