Good evening! 24 days and six hours until we will be toasting away the year. Partly cloudy and 39 degrees in the  City of Albany. Calm wind.

Gosh, doesn’t it seem like it was just 2015 or maybe 2014. A lot of changes happened this year, so better than others. Although most changes weren’t all that great, and when the history books are written this will be seen as a pretty ugly year. 

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 30 degrees at 5am. Five degrees above normal. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph. In 2015, it got down to 26 degrees with periods of fog. The record low of -3 occurred back in 1902.

Look up at the moon. It’s pretty! Waxing Gibbous Moon tonight with 57% illuminated. The moon will set around 2:39 am. The Full “Cold” Moon is next Wednesday. And it will be cold for the cold moon with temperatures in the teens. Buts it’s almost winter, so that’s to be expected. 

Tomorrow will have scattered snow showers, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 39 degrees at 1pm. One degree above normal. Southwest wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Winter. A year ago, we had fog and a high of 43 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1927. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 2001.

Right now, a split verdict on the rather cold upcoming weekend. Saturday, isolated snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 30. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Sunday, a chance of snow after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. Chance of precipitation is 40%.Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees. The real frigid weather comes in a week from Thursday when the high in Albany is expected to be only 22, with a low in the single digits. 

In four weeks on January 4 the sun will be setting at 4:35 pm, which is 14 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 32 and 6 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 15 degrees. The record high of 64 degrees was set back in 1950.

Good morning! Today marks two weeks to First Day of Winter. Globby rain and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. About an inch of wet globby snow on the grass and pavement. The skies will clear tomorrow around 5 pm. Almost perfect timing for the bus this morning, and it is a brand new bus that I’m taking downtown.

Today will have a chance of rain between 9am and noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 43 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal. South wind around 7 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had fog and a high of 48 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1998. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 2003.

Discovered a rip in the shirt I was going to wear to work today. I guess I will be retiring that one to rag pile. I might actually use it for a rag as it’s torn in the elbo, or I might donate it to the shirt recycling bin. i try to get rid of worn clothing soon after it’s ripped, because otherwise it just accumulates and keeps me from finding actually usable clothing for work and casual use.

It certainly looks like it will generally be a cold and damp December day. Just clouds tomorrow but cold for Saturday. The high for Saturday is 33 degrees and even colder for the Adirondacks.  Sunday will snow, with an inch expected by afternoon. Not a lot of snow, but certainly enough to make the roads slick with the lower temperatures expected. I was hoping to get up north with their sunny skies on Saturday but now it looks like it will be winder then earlier expected. It’s possible that I will instead go down to Kaaterskill Falls and the rail trail on Saturday. Depends how cold it is. Or I could stay local and maybe just go for a walk along the rail trail to the South End.

The sun will set at 4:21 pm with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 3 seconds earlier than yesterday. Pretty much the earliest sunset of the year. Today will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 58 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 27 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight. In 2015, it got down to 26 degrees with periods of fog. The record low of -3 occurred back in 1902.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until First Day of Winter when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. Four minutes later than today.  On that day in 2015, we had rain and temperatures between 48 and 33 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high for the first day of winter of 59 back in 1957.

Yesterday, I got notice from the Comptroller’s office that starting within the next three months, I’ll have 10 years of state service in. That means I won’t any longer have to contribute with a payroll deduction for my pension. Which is nice because it frees the money up for me to invest elsewheres. I can’t believe ten years has come and gone so quickly, but then again, in a few weeks it will be 2017. Before you know it, will be 2020. If I stay with the state and continue for another 22 years, I’ll be able to retire at age 55 with a full pension. But I doubt I’ll do it, but who knows.

Today in 1941, was the World War II Attack on Pearl Harbor. The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

In 1972, Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth. There was a time before remote sensing and the earth imagery that has now become common place and widely accepted with technologies like Google Maps and Orthophotograhpy.