January 18, 2017 Night

Good evening! I decided it was time to g0 home. There is always tomorrow morning and I have to say Oneida, Otego, Otsego, Unatego, and Unadilla in eight point font can be confused when your tired. Those darn Indian names in Upstate NY. I do have to say those little towns that smell like cow shit are so charming. I am the one who applied to Oswego State when I intended to apply to Oneonta State. That’s how I ended up at Plattsburgh State, which shouldn’t be confused  with Prattsburg in the Finger Lakes. Both towns have lots of wind mills. That said I had plenty of coffee at the Pine Bush dinner.

Left the office for a few hours to go to the Save the Pine Bush Dinner, ate some delicious food then ran the big commercial dish washer for about an hour before I headed back to the office. The food was really good and it was fun to catch up with people. The speaker on natural gas infrastructure was interesting and seemed fairly well informed, even if I didn’t agree much with her perspectives. It’s still good to hear her views and support the good cause of Save the Pine Bush. They’ve done so much good work over the years at protecting the Pine Bush. Next month, one of the founding members, Rezin Adams turns 90, and Save the Pine Bush turns 38 years old. The new energy of the last few meetings makes me hopeful that it can make it to 40 in two more years. It’s moved away from Pine Bush issues lately but hopefully if can continue to be a champion for the Pine Bush going forward. 

Rather damp out this evening with some fog and temperatures around 34 degrees in Delmar. Calm wind.The skies will clear tomorrow around 4 pm. It wasn’t that bad waiting put for the bus stop although it was very quiet downtown although a lot of cars were downtown. Probably people working on the state budget. Damp though. Tomorrow I hope to wash my truck to get all that awful salt off. I’ll see how things go. I have a few supplies I need at the store too. 

Got home, had a few things to eat and drank some beer. Watched more of the the PBS Special, Divided States of America. It’s been a rough eight years for Barack Obama, but he dealt with the hand that voters gave him. Then his presidency lead to Donald Trump. It should be interesting to see what the future holds. 

Tonight will have a slight chance of rain and snow, mainly between 1am and 3am. Areas of fog before 4am, then areas of fog after 5am. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low of 33 degrees at 2am. 19 degrees above normal. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, it got down to 13 degrees with periods of snow. The record low of -28 occurred back in 1971.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 55% illuminated. The Last Quarter Moon is on Thursday night with mostly cloudy skies expected. The Full β€œSnow” Moon is on Saturday, February 11th. The sun will rise at 7:20 am with the first light at 6:49 am, which is 37 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 27 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 1 minutes and 52 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy, with a high of 41 degrees at 4pm. 11 degrees above normal. Cloudy but mild. More sun later in the day? Calm wind becoming west 5 to 7 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had snow and a high of 23 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1929. 8.5 inches of snow fell back in 1886.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. Warm but gray. Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 43.Typical average high for the weekend is 30 degrees.

In four weeks on February 15 the sun will be setting at 5:27 pm, which is 36 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had snow showers and temperatures between 20 and -4 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 35 and 17 degrees. The record high of 55 degrees was set back in 2006.

Looking ahead, March 1st is in 6 weeks, Ides of March is in 8 weeks, Tax Day is in 3 months, Average High is 60 is in 13 weeks, Flag Day is in 21 weeks, Father’s Day is in 5 months and Summer is in 22 weeks. I can’t wait for summer. 

January 18, 2017 – The Next 16 Week Averages

We are now six weeks out from March 1st. In four weeks on February 15th, we start seeing the daily highs start to moderate, with average temperatures pushing into the mid 30s. The first week of March we reach an average high around 40, then an average high of 50 by April. Three weeks into April, god willing, we will see average highs around 60. That said, some years are colder then others.

Week Date Dawn Sun-
rise
Sun-
set
Dusk Day Avg High Avg Low Record Hi Record Low
0 January 18 6:49 am 7:20 am 4:52 pm 5:22 pm 9:31 30 14 59 (1973) -19 (1957)
1 January 25 6:44 am 7:15 am 5:00 pm 5:31 pm 9:45 31 14 61 (1938) -12 (1963)
2 February 1 6:38 am 7:08 am 5:10 pm 5:39 pm 10:01 32 15 65 (1989) -20 (1920)
3 February 8 6:30 am 6:59 am 5:19 pm 5:48 pm 10:19 33 16 52 (1925) -16 (1950)
4 February 15 6:21 am 6:50 am 5:28 pm 5:57 pm 10:37 35 17 55 (2006) -22 (1943)
5 February 22 6:11 am 6:40 am 5:37 pm 6:05 pm 10:57 36 19 68 (1997) -8 (1963)
6 March 1 6:00 am 6:28 am 5:46 pm 6:14 pm 11:17 39 21 61 (1991) -9 (1948)
7 March 8 5:49 am 6:17 am 5:54 pm 6:22 pm 11:37 41 23 68 (2012) -2 (1989)
8 March 15 6:37 am 7:05 am 7:02 pm 7:30 pm 11:57 44 25 72 (1989) 1 (1993)
9 March 22 6:24 am 6:53 am 7:10 pm 7:38 pm 12:17 47 28 81 (2012) 2 (1875)
10 March 29 6:12 am 6:40 am 7:18 pm 7:47 pm 12:38 50 31 85 (1946) 0 (1923)
11 April 5 6:00 am 6:28 am 7:26 pm 7:55 pm 12:58 54 33 82 (1928) 14 (2016)
12 April 12 5:47 am 6:17 am 7:34 pm 8:03 pm 13:17 57 36 84 (1977) 13 (1874)
13 April 19 5:36 am 6:05 am 7:42 pm 8:12 pm 13:37 60 39 92 (1976) 18 (1875)
14 April 26 5:24 am 5:55 am 7:50 pm 8:21 pm 13:55 63 41 90 (1990) 24 (1972)
15 May 3 5:14 am 5:45 am 7:58 pm 8:29 pm 14:12 66 43 89 (2001) 29 (1966)
16 May 10 5:05 am 5:37 am 8:06 pm 8:38 pm 14:29 68 45 92 (1970) 28 (1958)

Pocket Parks

Don’t forget about thoseΒ pocket parks and preserves, that might only be a few hundred feet away from your house.

There is this little pocket preserve called the Swift Preserve that is literally 200 feet from my door. Less then five minutes away. I didn’t discover it until I lived in Delmar for five years, and one night noticed the sign driving home after I dark. I go down there occasionally, but not enough.

There is always the appeal of the great wilderness preserve of the Adirondacks or the relative wilds of state forests out in the country. But those places you have to drive to and travel a great distance. It’s nice to be able to walk to some place nearby.

800 percent increase coming in cost of senior passes to national parks

800 percent increase coming in cost of senior passes to national parks

"To be clear, the current price – $10 for a lifetime of access to any and all national parks and federal lands – may be the best of all bargains available to America’s seniors. For less than the price of a pizza, you can gain admittance to every national park, from Acadia to Yosemite, from Denali to the Everglades, and every Glacier and Yellowstone in between, at any time, for the rest of your life."

"In all, the $10 pass gains seniors access to more than 2,000 federal recreation areas."

"But last month, Congress raised the price of a National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands senior pass to $80."

Study Finds Global Warming Could Steal Postcard-Perfect Days.

Study Finds Global Warming Could Steal Postcard-Perfect Days.

"Global warming is going to steal away some of those postcard-perfect weather days in the future, according to a first-of-its-kind projection of nice weather."

"On average, Earth will have 10 fewer days of mild and mostly dry weather by the end of the century, the researchers estimate. Some places will get more days perfect for picnics or outdoor weddings, while other places will lose a lot. Rio de Janeiro, Miami and much of Africa are big losers, while Europe and Seattle will gain nicer weather."