Good evening! Another chilly night on tap. Mostly clear and 3 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. The current wind chill is -12. Trying to avoid the cold I missed the express bus going home and ended up going back inside and taking the local back home. My stupid fault, usually the bus runs really late. Wasn’t too bad walking down to the library this evening but I was bundled up. 

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of -2 degrees at 5am. 19 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -23 at 6am; Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph. In 2016, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of -14 occurred back in 1951. So definitely not record breaking cold but still cold. 

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent Moon with 63% illuminated. The Wolf Moon is on New Year Day. The sun will rise at 7:24 am with the first light at 6:52 am, which is 16 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 55 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 30 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny, with a high of 12 degrees at 3pm. 20 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -23 at 7am; Northwest wind around 17 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. You might describe that as quite cold.  A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1982. 7 inches of snow fell back in 1967.

Cold weekend on tap to close out 2017. Saturday, a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 18. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New Years Eve, mostly sunny and cold, with a high near 9. Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees. I think I will stay in town this weekend but Saturday might be okay if one is bundled up. 

I got the USB cables I ordered but not the headphones. The USB cable at six foot is nice and long and durably built but I really want the headphones so I can listen to music on the bus. Maybe they’ll come later in the week. I was very disappointed to open the package and find them not there. I am also waiting on some capacitors and wire I ordered online for one of the electronics projects I’m building. 

I am doing fine with the cold, but I’m hoping for a spring thaw sooner than later as the cold weather is no fun, especially when I want to do things on the weekend. I guess it will warm up eventually again. 

In four weeks on January 24 the sun will be setting at 4:59 pm, which is 30 minutes later then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had rain, drizzle, snow, sleet, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 35 and 32 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 14 degrees. The record high of 54 degrees was set back in 1999.

Looking ahead, State of the State Day is in 1 week, Coldest Day of Year (Avg. 14-30 degrees) is in 2 weeks, Blue Moon is in 5 weeks, February Save the Pine Bush Dinner – 40th Anniversary is in 8 weeks, Independence Day is in 27 weeks and Inaugeration Day 2021 is in 160 weeks.