12 weeks from today will be spring.

Good evening! Partly clear and 4 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 7 mph. The current wind chill is -4. Driving home this evening, Big Red’s DIC said it was as low as one degree. The cold of winter is back but it was nice cross country skiing along the rail trail out to Voorheesville then I went out to my parents house for ham dinner. It was a nice day. 

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 4 degrees at 6am. 13 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -4 at 5am; West wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2016, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1914.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon with 59% illuminated.The moon will set tonight at 12:45 am. The is on Wednesday night with mostly clear skies. The is on Wednesday night. The sun will rise at 7:24 am with the first light at 6:52 am, which is 18 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 56 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 25 seconds over last night. Nights are getting shorter. 

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, with a high of 18 degrees at 2pm. 14 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -5 at 6am; West wind 5 to 13 mph. Cold. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 60 was set in 1895. 15 inches of snow fell back in 1894.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. Saturday, a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 14. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, mostly sunny and cold, with a high near 10. Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees. That’s like 22 degrees below normal. Fortunately, summer has a much more stable climate than Albany’s winters. Even in the hottest summer days, you don’t have temperatures commonly 22 degrees above the mid-summer norm of 83 degrees. That would be 105 degrees which is warmer than Albany has ever been. Winter can occasionally have days 30 degrees above or below normal. 20 degrees below normal isn’t that uncommon and I think if you look at the record books you’ll see days 30-40 degrees above or below normal in winter. 20 degrees above or below normal is exceptional in summer. 

The Albany County Rail Trail from the Slingerlands Firehouse to Voorheesville is quite nice for skiing but maybe a little too flat and straight for my taste. It was 3.62 miles one way, crossing at grade on three roads. The first and the last mile in Font Grove and Voorheesville are past the backyards of hideous suburban McManisons but then there is a nice quiet rural mile past woods and abandoned farm fields. Hopefully it won’t all become hideous suburban McManisons like closer to Voorheesville and Font Grove. Those McManisons are just so ugly. I can’t say that enough. I don’t know why anybody would want to live that way, especially when they have money. Maybe not quite as nice as the Old Erie Canal trail once you get into the open country east of DeWitt but still pretty nice. I prefer a much more open landscape although there certainly were deer and squirrels on the trail which was mostly devoid of suburbanites except closer to their developments. But then again the country where the Albany County Rail Trail runs is much more built up. 

I turned the heat down before leaving for the day, but once I came home I turned it back up with the baseboard electric upstairs on briefly. I used to keep the heat a lot lower but sometimes now I’d rather spend an additional $20 a month to stay somewhat warmer. But I certainly don’t keep it as warm as many people do and try to remember to turn it down during the day time. Wood heat at some point would be nice when I own land. 
I better think about getting some sleep as it’s getting late and I have to work tomorrow. If it’s not too cold I may walk down to the express bus at the park and ride but only if I can get an early start. 

In four weeks on January 23 the sun will be setting at 4:58 pm, which is 29 minutes and 26 seconds later then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had rain, freezing rain, snow, sleet, mist, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 39 and 32 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 14 degrees. The record high of 64 degrees was set back in 1906.

Looking ahead, National Pie Day is in 4 weeks, Lame Duck Day is in 6 weeks, First Day of Spring is in 12 weeks, Election Day 2018 is in 45 weeks and Election Day 2020 is in 149 weeks.

“Thomas Paine and Jesse James are old friends,
And Robin Hood is riding on the road again,
We were born in a revolution and we died in a wasted war
It’s gone that way before.”

~ Another Age, Phil Ochs