August 5, 2016 Evening

Happy Weekend! Mostly sunny and 85 degrees in Albany, NY. There is a south breeze at 13 mph. The dew point is 64 degrees. Warm but not oppressive conditions this evening. I kind of wish I had driven in and was heading out camping although tomorrow morning may be somewhat cloudy and maybe wet. 

It was a long but productive week as I got back into the groove after vacation. It’s now over and traffic is moving well on the expressway, although I guess we are going up McCarty Hill today. I’m ready to get home. It’s been a long week. The pleasant weather this afternoon hides the thunderstorms and rain expected for tonight. 

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 70 degrees at 4am. Eight degrees above normal. South wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Maximum dew point of 67 at 6am. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1994. The sun will set at 8:09 pm with dusk around 8:40 pm, which is 1 minutes and 16 seconds earlier than yesterday. Waxing Crescent Moon tonight with 20% illuminated. The moon will set around 11:19 pm. The First Quarter Moon is on Wednesday with chance of t-storms then partly cloudy skies expected. The Full β€œStrugeon” Moon is on Thursday, August 18th.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 4pm. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high of 85 degrees at 4pm. Three degrees above normal. South wind 7 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Maximum dew point of 70 at 10am. The record high of 98 was set in 1900.

Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Maximum dew point of 60 at 7am. Typical average high for the weekend is 82 degrees.

I think I’m still heading out to Schoharie County but everything can change tomorrow based on the forecast. Some more pool time is always fun. But first I need to do some cleaning around my apartment this evening. And some deep breathes. A one night trip is relatively easy to set up and take down. 

In four weeks on September 2  the sun will be setting at 7:26 pm, which is 43 minutes earlier then today. The average high is 77 degrees, and the record for that date is 100 degrees was set back in 1953. It will be the start of the Labor Day Weekend. 

Zero Centered Color Ramp in QGIS

I often need zero-centered color ramps in QGIS. Here is how to quickly make them:

  1. Open up the Layer Styling Dialog.
  2. Select the column you want to use and number of classes.
  3. Select the color ramp you want to use — typically a two or three color ramp — such as green-white-red or blue-white-red.
  4. Click classify.
  5. Note the highest or lowest value in the classes (such as -152 or 80).
  6. You will want to use the largest absolute value — in this case -152.
  7. Put in the column box, rand(-152, 152) and click classify. If you a using a simple shapefile without many objects, you may have to expand the range slightly, e.g. rand(-200,200),Β to ensure a full ramp is generated.
  8. Select the column you want to use. Do not click classify.
  9. You will now have a nice, zero centered, balanced color ramp for displaying your data.

2016 Presidential Democratic Primary – Hillary Clinton Vote Margin

This interactive Google Map shows the vote margin for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in Albany County. Bernie Sanders won the county with about 52.2% of the vote, or a fairly comfortable 1,884 vote margin. Hillary Clinton's support was concentrated in urban, African American portions of the county, while Bernie Sanders had his strength in rural and outer suburbs, along with Downtown Albany and Delmar. Bernie Sander's coalition certainly was an interesting one.

August 5, 2016 8 AM Update

Good morning! A pretty nice start to an August morning.Β Mostly sunny and 70 degrees in Albany. There is a south breeze at 5 mph. The dew point is 62 degrees.

One month from now will be Labor Day. Where did the time go?Β 

Today will be sunny, with a high of 91 degrees at 4pm.Β Nine degrees above normal. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Maximum dew point of 64 at 10am. The record high of 99 was set in 1955. The sun will set at 8:09 pm with dusk around 8:40 pm, which is 1 minutes and 17 seconds earlier than yesterday. Today will have 14 hours and 16 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 11pm. Increasing clouds, with a low of 69 degrees at 4am. Eight degrees above normal. South wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Maximum dew point of 67 at 6am. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1994.

Cloudy periods:
Sat. 12am to Sat. 11am – rain and thunderstorms expected

Rain expected:
Fri. 8pm to Sat. 1pm – 0.31 inches

Muggy periods:
Fri. 8pm to Fri. 9pm – Max Temp: 79, Heat Index: 79, Dew Point: 65
Sat. 1am to Sat. 4pm – Max Temp: 84, Heat Index: 86, Dew Point: 70
Wed. 1pm to Thu. 8pm – Max Temp: 86, Heat Index: 88, Dew Point: 67

There are 1 week until First Day of Sunset Before 8 PM in Albany when the sun will be setting at 7:59 pm with dusk at 8:30 pm. The average high temperature is 81 degrees, with a record high of 99 in 1944. Slight drop in the temperature and a major drop in daylight.

Today in 1882, Standard Oil of New JerseyΒ is established. One of the seven sisters, it became known as Esso in 1912, and sixty years later was renamed Exxon after Esso merged with Humboldt Oil in 1972. Later on Exxon merged with ExxonMobil, creating an even larger oil company. Some places still use the Esso and Exxon trademarks. While not often reported in the news, petroleum is still the most important substance in the world. Without petroleum, there would be a mass die off of humanity.

One year ago was the Β Gold King Mine waste water spill which releases 3 million gallons ofΒ heavy metal toxinΒ tailings and waste water into the Animas RiverΒ in Colorado. An EPA remediation project for an abandoned mine, it went tragically wrong when a man-made pond failed dumping some rather nasty chemicals in the Animas River. Conservatives found a good way to bash the incompetence of the EPA.

I’m not seeing a wash out this weekend.Β Assuming the forecast remains true, I’m heading out to Schoharie County to swim and fish on Saturday and Sunday.Β Camp at Burnt Rossman, soak up some rays at Mine Kill State Park and fish from the recently reopened fishing area at the Mine Kill Reservoir. Maybe hike some of the trails. Sunday looks absolutely beautiful and Saturday afternoon into the evening should be quite nice.