Listening to Glen Campbell’s Galveston, imagining I was John Steinbeck in his Travels with Charlie, driving somewhere across the mid west in a pickup truck, three on the tree with a camper on the bed, listening to some small town country music AM radio. An era I only know by the books I’ve read. It’s an era long gone, with most of the small towns bypassed by the freeway, smokestack industries gone, and music played only by Clear Channel and MP3s. RIP, Glen Campbell.  

While we listen to those old Glen Campbell records with sadness, we have a great day of summer ahead of us. Mostly sunny and 73 degrees in Albany. Calm wind. The dew point is 53 degrees.  Get out and enjoy it.  Going to be a beautiful late summer day. Two weeks from now will be the last day with Average High of 80.

Today will be sunny, with a high of 82 degrees at 4pm. Typical temperature, and otherwise beautiful for today. Maximum dew point of 59 at 12pm. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, it was a bit warmer but with more clouds. In 2016, had mostly sunny skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 2001.

The sun will set at 8:04 pm with dusk around 8:35 pm, which is one minute and 21 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly clear conditions and 74 degrees. The dew point will be 60 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 7 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 25 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 60 degrees at 5am. One degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 60 at 8pm. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies. It became humid as the night progressed. It got down to 70 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1955.

The weekend forecast has improved quite a bit over the past few days. I might head up to Piseco-Powley Road, depending on how it all plays out as Friday approaches. That said, I’m not sure if the weather up north will be as nice as down here. I would like to get to the potholers at least one more time, before it gets too cold.  Although who knows, the very long range predictions are calling for a mild autumn. If it’s 90 degrees and it’s September, the potholers are just as fun as summer. They don’t close them down like the state parks pools.

The long range looks quite good for the weekend after next. I am watching that for taking an extended weekend, and possibly going out to the Finger Lakes to watch the eclipse. I don’t have the days off except eclipse day, but if it’s hot and sunny, I’ll make it work. Or so I hope.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Last Day with Average High of 80 when the sun will be setting at 7:43 pm with dusk at 8:13 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 80 and 50 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 80 degrees. We hit a record high of 94 back in 1947.