March 31, 2017 Night

Good evening!ย Rain and 36 degrees in City of Albany. There is a east breeze at 7 mph. The skies will clear Sunday around 4 am. A rather cold and wet ending to our week. More sun on Sunday, but it will be cold for start of April.

Tonight will rain before 1am, then rain, snow, and sleet. Low of 34 degrees at 6am. Two degrees above normal. Northeast wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow and sleet accumulation of less than one inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 42 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of 9 occurred back in 1923.

Waxing Crescent Moon tonight with 31% illuminated. The moon will set around 12:23 am. The First Quarter Moon is on Monday night with rain is likely expected. The Full โ€œPinkโ€ Moon is on Tuesday, April 11th. The sun will rise at 6:36 am with the first light at 6:08 am, which is one minute and 44 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 11 hours and 14 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will rain and snow, becoming all rain after 10am. High of 40 degrees at 3pm. 12 degrees below normal. North wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had rain and a high of 70 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1986. 5 inches of snow fell back in 1924.

On Sunday, look for mostly sunny skies, with a high near 49. Northwest wind 6 to 11 mph. Typical average high for the weekend is 52 degrees.

In four weeks on April 28 the sun will be setting at 7:52 pm, which is 31 minutes and 54 seconds later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 58 and 35 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 64 and 42 degrees. The record high of 92 degrees was set back in 1990.

Looking ahead, Good Friday is in 2 weeks, Arbor Day is in 4 weeks, Cinco de Mayo is in 5 weeks and Memorial Day Weekend is in 8 weeks.

Trading One Bad Map for Another?

Trading One Bad Map for Another?

"Earlier this month, the social studies classrooms of Boston Public Schools underwent a slight but significant change in decor. Down came the Mercator Projectionโ€”a common choice of world maps for schoolsโ€”which distorts the size of each land mass but keeps continental shapes intact. Up went a different map, the Peters, which stretches out the world in order to give each continent a proportionally accurate amount of room. On the Peters, Canadaโ€”so huge on the Mercatorโ€”shrinks to its proper size, while Africa, which the Mercator shows shrunk and jammed beneath a too-large Europe, stretches out."

Climate Progress, With or Without Trump

Climate Progress, With or Without Trump

"President Trumpโ€™s unfortunate and misguided rollback of environmental protections has led to a depressing and widespread belief that the United States can no longer meet its commitment under the Paris climate change agreement. But hereโ€™s the good news: Itโ€™s wrong.

No matter what roadblocks the White House and Congress throw up, the United States can โ€” and Iโ€™m confident, will โ€” meet the commitment it made in Paris in 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet. Let me explain why, and why correcting the false perception is so important."

March 31, 2017 9 AM Update

Listening to the Byrds’ Chimes of Freedom as I take the bus downtown this morning. That Normans Kill is really roaring as the rain comes down this morning. We have a fresh dusting of snow this morning with temperatures around 35. More rain, sleet and snow later but most of it won’t stick on the roads with a high around 39 degrees later.

The sun will set at 7:21 pm with dusk around 7:49 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 12 hours and 43 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain and sleet before 2am, then rain between 2am and 3am, then rain and sleet after 3am. Low of 34 degrees at 1am. Two degrees above normal. East wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no sleet accumulation expected. In 2016, it got down to 42 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of 9 occurred back in 1923.

With the potentially slick roads this morning,ย and mainly because I didn’t sleep well last night, and I’m tired, I decided to take the bus in. I’m not sure why I didn’t sleep well last night, but I really didn’t. It just was one of those nights where I wake up, and sat listening to some report on BBC, which I can’t recall what it was. Then I stayed in bed until almost 7:30 AM and drank a full pot of coffee, next to some regular waffles and lots of frozen, not fresh blueberries. Maybe when I go shopping this week, I’ll get some fresh blueberries.

God only know how long of a day it will be,ย but I have an increasing feel that I will be home by time to watch the PBS Newshour tonight, and I’ll end up driving in on Monday. The weather should be nicer on Monday at any rate. Or maybe I’ll be going back in on Saturday. I might drive in on Saturday or take the bus, I’m not certain. I think the last bus on Saturday is at 9:45, so I have to be careful.

I don’t know if I will get out fishing this weekend,ย because I will likely be stuck in the office tomorrow or late tonight at least, and by Sunday it will be bright and sunny and the water levels much too high. I might instead wait until next weekend. This weekend though I plan to buy the remaining wire and clips I need for wiring up the truck, and at least drill the hole through the grommet, in preparation of running the new power wire from the truck cap to the near where it’s fed from by the power inverter.

Looking ahead to April, there are 2 weeks until Good Friday when the sun will be setting at 7:37 pm with dusk at 8:06 pm. On that day in 2016, we had sunny skies and temperatures between 58 and 31 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 58 degrees. We hit a record high of 83 back in 1968.