February 3, 2017 10 PM Update

Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 21 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 13 mph. The current wind chill is 9. The skies will clear tomorrow around 1 pm. Kind of a chilly night, decided to stay home. 

Tonight will have scattered snow showers, mainly after 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 15 degrees at 6am. Typical for tonight. West wind 11 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 36 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1978.

First Quarter Moon tonight with 50% illuminated. The moon will set around 1:55 am. The Full β€œSnow” Moon is on Saturday, February 11th. The sun will rise at 7:05 am with the first light at 6:36 am, which is 1 minutes and 8 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 13 hours and 52 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny, with a high of 32 degrees at 2pm. Typical temperatures. West wind 8 to 17 mph. A year ago, we had rain and a high of 57 degrees. Not typical. The record high of 61 was set in 1991. 15.5 inches of snow fell back in 1926.

In four weeks on March 3 the sun will be setting at 5:48 pm, which is 35 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 29 and 17 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 39 and 21 degrees. The record high of 64 degrees was set back in 2002.

Looking ahead, St. Patrick’s Day is in 6 weeks, Good Friday is in 10 weeks, Arbor Day is in 12 weeks, Cinco de Mayo is in 13 weeks and Memorial Day Weekend is in 16 weeks.

Non Citizens

I am working on some maps and charts for next week on citizenship in our country. Citizenship is a big issue these days, and I thought it would be interesting to present the facts on the issue. One thing I was reading intrigued me:

Within U.S. territory, non-citizens have rights because of the 14th Amendment, which declares β€œnor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

This article lays out the case law on this issue: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/255281-yes-illegal-aliens-have-constitutional-rights

Boulder falls from Rimrocks, clips car in Billings

Boulder falls from Rimrocks, clips car in Billings

"A boulder fell from the Rimrocks on Thursday night and struck a car, according to the Billings Police Department."

"The driver of the vehicle was on North 27th Street driving toward the airport when they were struck, said BPD Sgt. Clyde Reid. The driver was uninjured and the car had minor damage, Reid said."

"The boulder, described as roughly half the size of a passenger car, fell on 27th a few hundred yards north of Rimrock Road at about 8 p.m. and came to rest in the middle of the road, Reid said."

February 3, 2017 8 AM Update

“I heard on the radio that today was dress red for women day. Seems like a good idea, because without women wouldn’t have trucker songs like ‘How fast them trucks can go.’ Not to mention there wouldn’t be heifers that grow to become cows and produce nature’s most delicious beverage. No milk would make coffee awful bitter and cereal pretty dry.”

Lots of sun this morning with a few clouds and mercury around 22 degrees.Β There is a west-southwest breeze at 6 mph. And how fast them trucks will go…Β 

Continued sun this afternoon with highs around 29 degrees. Chilly weather but sunny. However, it is still only the first week of February, so such weather is not unexpected. Still like six weeks of winter left. Β Not a terrible walk down to the Park and Ride, but I was running a bit late so it was a bit of a hustle.

The sun will set at 5:12 pm with dusk around 5:41 pm, which is 1 minutes and 19 seconds later than yesterday. Might be a good sunset tonight, with the skies being fairly clear. More clouds later though.Β Today will have 10 hours and 6 minutes of daylight, an increase of 1 minutes and 26 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be scattered snow showers, mainly after 5am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 15 degrees at 6am. Typical for tonight. West wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 36 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1978.

Last night, I went to the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace presentation by Teresa Meade and Andor Skotnes will give a talk titled “Fascism and Populist Authoritarianism”. A pretty interesting presentation, I would note. Not as partisan or ideological as you might think, but really a good history of authoritarian regimes and how they worked. Most of them had a strong man component to it, but a lot had to do with the appeals to the working man. It turns out in some ways, authoritarianism improved the lives of some people while harming others. A very interesting presentation for sure.

Planning a pretty quiet weekend this weekend.Β Next weekend is the Adirondack Outdoorsmen Expo, which I will probably go to, assuming they aren’t getting pounded by Lake Effect Snow in Johnstown. Tomorrow might be nice enough to skiing or hiking somewhere, but I expect it to be too cold to go camping. Maybe in another month. If we had more sun, I might consider camping locally but in the mean-time, I don’t think it’s likely. At some point in the next few weeks (probably not next week), I’m going to have to get to the transfer station, as I’m running out of room in the garbage cans outside, especially the recycling bin. Having not been camping, I end up with a lot of burnable trash, that otherwise would have been burnt up starting campfires.

As previously noted, there are 6 weeks until St. Patrick’s Day when the sun will be setting at 7:04 pm with dusk at 7:32 pm (Daylight Savings Time). That will be nice. On that day in 2016, we had fog, rain, thunderstorm and temperatures between 61 and 38 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 45 degrees. Might even have some nice days in March. We hit a record high of 75 back in 1990.

“When you’re pushin’ that dieselΒ on down the line,
An’ you get to thinkin’ ’bout the woman you’ve left behind,
How she wiggles when she walks an’ stuff like that,
An’ just how fast them trucks’ll go.”

February 3, 2017 Morning

“It’s a Friday. Sunrises are definitely happening earlier this time of year.” 

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Six weeks to St. Patrick’s Day. Partly cloudy and 21 degrees in Albany. Calm wind.

Today will have isolated snow showers before 9am, then isolated snow showers after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high of 29 degrees at 2pm. Three degrees below normal. Light southwest wind becoming west 8 to 13 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had rain and a high of 57 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 2016. 6.1 inches of snow fell back in 2004.