December 26, 2016 Night

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In five days from now, that is Saturday, we will be only hours from counting down the final hour of 2016. Kind of a weird afternoon into evening with mercury rising from 13 degrees this morning to 40 degrees now. We had a brief period of freezing rain and the driveway got icy. My truck was also covered by ice. By six pm when I went to the store and laundromat the roads were only wet. Ice was all melted off the truck. Apparently some places were really icy and maybe around here – the salt trucks were out – but no ice even on the back roads when I was out. 

Sorry for the lack of updates and entertaining content today. I didn’t have anything ready to go live and I got busy with unpacking and cleaning. Spent several hours organizing and scrubbing down the bathroom. Cleaned the kitchen. There’s more to do but I wanted to get a good jump on the winter cleanup. Bathroom doesn’t get as much cleaning as it should so it’s a lot of work. I got all the camping gear put away which wasn’t too bad as I didn’t bring a campstove, instead just reheating dinner on a grill over the fire in an disposable aluminum pie pan. Glad I didn’t get it too hot on the grill when I heated it up because I tossed it in the fire when I was done to burn off any remaining food and it was almost entirely consumed by the fire.  I did go to the laundromat as I didn’t want to leave my clothes with the smoke smell baking in all week but also because I wanted to wash my sweater vest that I spilled food on during mom and dad’s Christmas breakfast. 

Looked and almost bought the Star Shower Laser Christmas lights but decided against it because the package didn’t clearly list the wattage and because they were green or red and green and I didn’t think those would be good colors mid summer. I was thinking they would be pretty though on a summer night illuminating tree branches at night, assuming they were as low wattage as they say. Half off so only $20 but I passed on them. Not sure if they would have been really visible with the flag lit at camp and all the light that typically casts on the tree branches. Maybe next year they’ll be cheaper and in more colors. If they are truly low wattage as the Internet suggested, they might be fun. 

Tonight will rain and possibly a thunderstorm. We haven’t had any thunder yet here in Delmar. Low of 40 degrees with continued warming throughout the night. 17 degrees above normal. Breezy, with a south wind 16 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2015, it got down to 35 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1914.
Waning Crescent Moon tonight with 12% illuminated. The moon will rise around 4:22 am. The New Moon is on Wednesday night with rain then mostly cloudy skies. Not good weather for looking at the stars. 

Tomorrow will have a chance of rain before 7am, then a chance of showers between 7am and 3pm. Partly sunny, starting out the morning around 45 with a temperature falling to around 33 by 5pm. Breezy, with a west wind 16 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. I do need to get milk in the morning for coffee.   Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had rain and a high of 51 degrees. The record high of 60 was set in 1895. 15 inches of snow fell back in 1894. The sun will rise at 7:25 am with the first light at 6:53 am, which is 17 seconds later then yesterday.

Looking ahead, I have a bunch of new content for the blog. And lots of holidays as summer gets closer. Martin Luther King Day is in 3 weeks, Presidents Day is in 8 weeks, Patriots Day is in 16 weeks, May Day is in 18 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend is in 5 months and Memorial Day is in 22 weeks.

December 26, 2016 Morning

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It wasn’t too bad of a night but it’s a bit colder this morning when the wind picks up. Nice and toasty in the tent. The first sled load of gear is in the truck. Next I have to take down the had and make about two more trips down the mountain.

We are at 17 degrees under mostly clear skies. A few minutes ago the wind really started to pick up. It was a pretty morning but I didn’t get much in pictures this morning as both camera batteries I had were dead from the cold.

Today will have a slight chance of snow and sleet before 1pm, then a chance of freezing rain between 1pm and 5pm, then a chance of rain or freezing rain after 5pm. Increasing clouds warming all day, with a high of 35 degrees at 6pm. Four degrees above normal. South wind 7 to 12 mph increasing to 13 to 18 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Little or no snow and sleet accumulation expected.

A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies and a high of 49 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1895. 13.9 inches of snow fell back in 1969.

The sun will set at 4:29 pm with dusk around 5:01 pm, which is 42 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 9 hours and 4 minutes of daylight, an increase of  25 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain before midnight, then showers, mainly after midnight. Temperature rising to around 45 by 2am. Breezy, with a south wind 16 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2015, it got down to 35 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1914.

Now that Christmas is over and New Years Eve in next week, there are 3 weeks until Martin Luther King Day when the sun will be setting at 4:50 pm with dusk at 5:21 pm. On that day in 2016, we had rain, snow and temperatures between 40 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 1995. Definitely heading into the coolest time of the year.

I better take get the rest of the gear out of the tent and drop it, as I’m hungry and want to head home. It’s warm in the tent but there is nothing to eat for breakfast.  Have a great day.