Good morning! Definitely a nice day for the First Day of Summer. Mostly cloudy and 74 degrees in Albany. There is a south breeze at 12 mph. The dew point is now 58. The relatively low dew point and breeze should make the heat quite bearable.

For those who like making your transmission and brakes work, Happy West Virginia Day. It’s going to be a bit cooler in the hills and hollows of West Virginia with temperatures expected to reach only about 80 in Thomas WV. Those hills of West Virginia are so steep and wild. I do love West Virginia, and hope to get back there this fall.

The revised forecast suggests we may get even hotter to kick off summer although nothing like 1953. Sunny, with a high near 91. 12 degrees above normal. South wind 6 to 11 mph. The record high of 97 was set in 1953. It’s going to be hard to break the records of 1953 this summer, even if the summer is expected to be above average.

Tonight the sun will set at 8:36 pm with dusk around 9:11 pm, which is 14 seconds later than yesterday. Never gets later this in Albany. If you don’t want to see sunset until around 9 pm, try moving to Buffalo. Tonight the sun will set 8:58 PM in Buffalo. It is the longest day of the year.

We will have 15 hours and 19 minutes of daylight, an increase of 2 seconds over yesterday. Tomorrow we shift the daylight machine into reverse, and each day gets shorter as we slowly but steadily work towards winter. But for another month or so, we will have long warm evenings. Happy Summer!

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. Six degrees above normal. South wind 7 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. Six degrees above normal. The record low of 41 occurred back in 1970.

On this day in 1963, The so-called “red telephone” link is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fortunately, that never had to be used.

There are 2 weeks until Independence Day when the sun will be setting at 8:36 pm with dusk at 9:10 pm. The average high temperature is 82 degrees, with a record high of 104 in 1911.

This past weekend, I camped out at the Hudson River Islands State Park on Saturday night and went to the Gas Up in Gallupville with Dad on Sunday. It was a nice weekend, but much too short, especially as I’m still recovering from working until 6 AM on Friday into Saturday morning.

It was nice camping on the Hudson River Island State Park, although I was dead tired paddling up to the campsite and setting up the tent. I sat under the stars in the river, as the tide flowed out until around 10:30 PM. By 3:30 PM, I awoken by the high tide, and the sloshing of the river not that far from the tent.

While barges didn’t pass by in the evening due to the low tide, by early morning with the tide in, many more. I was above the tide, but I’m glad I pulled the boat up higher before bed. I did lose a candle and bag, when the tide floated it away. The tide almost reached the bottom of the flag, where I had it hung along the river. I had no idea we would have such a high tide, but I guess it was close to the full moon.

Then I had the opposite problem heading back to my truck. The Stockport Station Boat Launch is only accessible at high tide. Apparently with the lack of rain, and the very low tide with the full moon, there was essentially no water to paddle back to the boat launch in. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one with this problem, and we were able to carefully cross the mud flats, carrying kayaks and canoes, and get safely out of the river. Walking on the mud flats is pretty dangerous, because if you get stuck in the mud, and the tide comes back in, you will likely drown. They really should put a warning sign that the boat launch is only accessible at high tide.

Yesterday was Father’s Day, and I spent it with Dad at the Gas Up in Gallupville. It really is quite the show of antique farm machinery. It was hot, and the line for the homemade ice cream made in the old ice cream machine was insane. So unfortunately, I didn’t get any homemade ice cream. I was disappointed. Next year I plan to get to the Gas Up early, and get some ice cream, when the line isn’t so long. I might camp up at Cotton Hill Lean-To or otherwise tent camp in the State Forest and go down to the Gallupville for the festivities. We will see. Next year in 2017, the Gas Up will be turning a half century old. Some of the antique cars and machinery on show there, weren’t even a glimmer in the eyes of Detroit assembly line when the festival first opened during the Summer of Love.