Too bad Downtown Albany is blanketed by a thick brown haze of smog. But it was a nice ride in with the sunshine and things greening up. I don’t know if it’s due to a house fire, the asphalt plant or cars and trucks on the highways or just a combination of al those with a good temperature inversion.

Good morning! Sunny and 47 degrees in Albany, NY. 🌞 Calm wind. A bit cool but it’s warming up quickly and going to be another nice day.

Carrot pancakes for breakfast this morning 🥕 with mango. My pancakes are far better then standard fare that most people think of — white pancake mix — type breakfasts. Last night was the usual fried onions and veggies with some soy sauce. 🍲 I wanted a quick dinner, something I could throw together while participating it he Save the Pine Bush dinner.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 63 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 22nd. Light west wind becoming northwest 13 to 18 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 2012. 5.3 inches of snow fell back in 1983.❄

Tweaked the derailleur on my bike 🚲 so I’m hoping for a smoother commute on into work today. 🧑‍🔧 I really need to schedule an appointment with my bike mechanic to get my bike derailleur adjusted. I can do some of my own adjustments but by no means am I an expert or a professional.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 57.7° from the due south horizon (-13.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:01 pm with the sun in the west (279°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (285°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:39 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 59 seconds with dusk around 8:08 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south (178°) at an altitude of 70° from the horizon, 248,336 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:44 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 58 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 30 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over yesterday.

Last night when I got home they were finishing up digging a hole the floor in the unit next to mine. 👷‍♂️ Apparently while I was at work they were busy with a jack hammer banging through the concrete slab, which at least they didn’t do while I was home but there was still a lot of moving of material for a while as I cooked my dinner, clanking and making noise, but then they stopped around 6:30 PM. Not great for the Save the Pine Bush Zoom, 📹️ although at the same time I was participating in the Zoom, I was also eating dinner. 🍲 What can I say, I was hungry after my bike ride home 🚴‍♂️ and tired too. After that I went down to the town park to read and walk for a while. It was a pretty nice evening.

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 34 degrees at 5am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 9th. West wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2023, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 49 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1971.

It ended up working out well on the state taxes. 💵 Despite my mistake on the tax form 📄 the state ultimately took out the proper amount of money. I was happy that worked out. I need to adjust my with holdings up further this year to avoid it happening again.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 61. Maximum dew point of 44 at 6am. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 59. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.

Now I’m definitely thinking about heading out of town 🌲 but where to go is the question. Rensselaerville State Forest is close for just a quick overnight. Or I could do a three day weekend in the Adirondacks. I’ve been considering potentially heading back up to the Vanderwhacker area of the Adirondacks, it’s been a long time since I’ve been up that way. Probably too cold for hammock camping. ⛺

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until 8 PM Sunset 🌇 when the sun will be setting at 8:03 pm with dusk at 8:33 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy and temperatures between 59 and 45 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 69 degrees. We hit a record high of 92 back in 1930.