Photo of Andy Arthur

Andy Arthur

The color television assures us that April showers bring May flowers. 🌷🌻🌼 I'll believe it when I see it, though there are definite hints of the green up -- grass is looking greener in the city, some bushes are starting to bloom and there are signs of the days to come. Days have gotten longer, windows open and it's generally just nicer then not that long ago.

Bozen Kill

Watching the Bozen Kill flowing by on Sunday afternoon in the Bozen Kill Preserve

Another Rainy Thursday β˜”

Seems like this week is following the exact same pattern as last week, rain Wednesday evening, rain Thursday and Friday with showers and clouds and cool come Saturday. Kind of obnoxious in my book as I like riding into work and I would like to head out of town for the weekend at least the overnight.

Good morning! Happy Rainy Thursday. I know, again, really? Rain and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌧️ There is a south-southeast breeze at 7 mph. πŸƒ. I can’t control the weather but I can my attitude. 🀬 It would definitely would be a cold and wet day if I was out camping.

Started the morning with shredded oatmeal and some canned pumpkin πŸŽƒ with a bunch of fried yellow onionsπŸ§… with cornmeal, broccoli πŸ₯¦ and eggs πŸ₯šand some garlic. A few cups of coffee β˜• and I’m up and off early to walk laps on the Concourse. 🚢 If it’s going to rain β˜” best to get my steps in early.

Today will have showers before noon, then showers likely with a chance of drizzle, mainly between noon and 1pm. 🌦 High of 46 degrees at 8am. 15 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 19th. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1976. 2.7 inches of snow fell back in 1887.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 58.4Β° from the due south horizon (-12.4Β° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour πŸ… starts at 7:03 pm with the sun in the west (280Β°). πŸ“Έ The sunset is in the west-northwest (286Β°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:41 pm after setting for 3 minutes with dusk around 8:10 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous πŸŒ” Moon in the southeast (141Β°) at an altitude of 55Β° from the horizon, 251,515 miles away. πŸš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:47 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers 🌧 and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 13 hours and 38 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 42 seconds over today.

Last night I took the bus 🚍 home, made up Johnny cakes πŸ₯ž and oatmeal with pumpkin πŸŽƒ and then went upstairs to do some reading πŸ“–. Ended up stumbling upon a very well narrated video series on statistics and spatial analysis using R by Great Courses on Kanopy from my local library for free πŸ†“. While I’m fairly experienced in R there is always more to learn. Spatial correlation is something I’m quite interested in but I find it’s a bit of a complicated theory to understand.

Tonight will have a chance of drizzle with a slight chance of showers before 1am. Mostly cloudy 🌧️ , with a low of 41 degrees at 3am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 25th. Light south wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of 18 occurred back in 1875.

Blustery and cool this weekend but not so wet. β˜€οΈπŸŒ¬οΈSaturday, a slight chance of showers before 8am, then scattered showers after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 60. West wind 9 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 56. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.

I am thinking about camping πŸ• locally this weekend if Saturday is half decent so I don’t have to listen to them working on construction 🚧 at the unit next door, even though the new landlord has been good about not running the jack hammer or loud equipment in the weekend and evenings. Still it’s annoying as often they have a lot of equipment on the driveway and I have to ask for them to move it to get our so it might be nice to do a quick overnight. I’m thinking the first or second week of May to do trip out to Schoharie 🚲 and ride the Catskill Scenic Trail once things green up, especially the greener farm section down in Delaware County assuming that it’s not so wet the trail is completely bogged down.

Winding Road