March 23, 2016 Night

Good evening. It’s bedtime for me once this note is done. 37 degrees and cloudy, no view of the Worm Moon tonight. We may drop another degree before morning but expect near constant temperatures for most of the night. There is a 30% chance of rain showers tonight and tomorrow. 11 hours and 36 hours of darkness tonight.

Sunrise tomorrow at 6:49 AM with the first light of morning at 6:20.
Going to be another cloudy and gray day with only a slight chance of showers and a high around 53 degrees.

In two weeks the average low for Albany is 34 degrees, which means that a typical night in Albany will be above freezing. Granted we are already at that point, with the past few nights being 5-10 degrees above normal.

Went for my evening walk. Also went down to the library for a bit. Watched the PBS Newshour while working on some code. A pretty typical evening. Looking forward to camping this weekend. But first I must get some sleep.

Good night. Sleep well. Morning is rapidly approaching…

March 23, 2016 Midday

As the clock heads into the six o’clock hour, it’s 41 degrees with a 17 mph wind. A bit cold and the the air feels damp. Kind of a continuation of this cloudy and dark afternoon. The latest forecast is calling for a 50% chance of showers the rest of the evening and into the night. Mild evening, at least once the wind dies down. Sunset at 7:11 pm and a full moon tonight. The low is 37 degrees which is about 9 degrees above normal. The record low is negative 4 back in 1875, a decade after the end of the Civil War. Three decades would pass before people would do much motoring.

Tomorrow has a 30% chance of rain showers and a high around 53. We might see some blue skies mid day. They are predicting mostly cloudy conditions for Thursday afternoon, with 70-75% of the sky covered. With the lower temperatures expected on Thursday night, rain becomes more likely.

Taking the local home tonight, and we are making progress. Didn’t quite make it out in time for the express bus. The local was running 10 minutes late but we seem to making good progress while I blog about today’s depressing weather. The good news is the weekend forecast still looks nice. Mostly sunny and 56 on Saturday. Mostly sunny and 61 for Easter. 12 degrees above normal on Easter but not the 78 degrees we had in the El Nino year of 1998.

Today marks 30 days until Earth Day. It’s a Friday night this year, perfect for spending in the wilderness in a mud covered pickup truck. The average high for Earth Day is 61 degrees, although back in 1989 when they were cranking out Global Warming press releases on mimeographs, it got up to 86 degrees. Summer and black fly season must just be around the corner.

March 23, 2016 Update

As we head into the 9 o’clock hour, we are continuing to be cloudy with temperatures around 50 degrees. There may be a slight break in the clouds around 4 pm, and temperatures will reach 57. The best chance for rain showers is after dark. Full Worm Moon tonight. The next full moon is on Earth Day – April’s Pink Moon.

Last night I started working on a script to automate LiDAR downloads. While I use conventional DEM data a lot and LiDAR isn’t that different – the HSES data is in DEM format – the tiles are quite small due to the high resolution of the data, and manual downloads are a pain. I don’t need LiDAR detail for many maps but on the other hand for some projects produces a helpful level of detail.

Working on Easter Weekend camping plans out. I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do but things could change as things progress. I still have to consider my work schedule and the weather.

Today in 2005 was the Texas City Refinery explosion. During a test on a distillation tower liquid waste builds up and flows out of a blowout tower. Waste fumes ignite and explode killing 15 workers. It doesn’t seem like that was over a decade ago.

At any rate, not every day can be bright and sunny. A few more days until the Easter Weekend. Have a great day!

March 23, 2016 Morning

Good morning. We are at 49 degrees and cloudy. We may shortly get some rain showers, so bring an umbrella on your morning commute. We are looking at 57 degrees for a high with cloudy weather and a 30% chance of rain showers. Mild day today, about 10 degrees above average. Tonight will be cloudy so unless a worm cuts through the clouds, the March Full Worm moon will not be visible.