Record Breaking Warm Today

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Today is expected to reach 68 degrees in the City of Albany. If so, that will be 31 degrees above the normal high temperature of 37 degrees for February 23rd. That will the tie for the warmest February temperature ever recorded in Albany — 68 degrees on February 22, 1997. February 25, 1976 reached 67 degrees and is the second hottest February day on record.

Oddly enough, we’ve actually had a handful of 70 degree days in January — when the temperature is colder on average. On January 6, 2007 and January 13, 1932 it reached 71 degrees in Albany.

To put that in context, if today was in the dog days of summer — July 13 through the 24th when the average high is 83 degrees — the mercury would reach 114 degrees Fahrenheit.

That said, even the most very hot summer day rarely exceed 10-15 degrees above normal. There just isn’t enough warm air in the atmosphere to ever push the mercury above 100 degrees in Albany. The last time it hit 100 degrees in Albany was September 3, 1953. The hottest it’s ever reached in Albany is 104 degrees on Independence Day 1911.

February 23, 2017 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Soon to be Very Warm for February Thursday. Partly sunny with some warm winter haze and 45 degrees in Delmar. There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph.

Today weather-wise will be one for the record books. You don’t get many 67 degrees days in Albany during February. The heat is off at home. I have my windows open, airing out my apartment. Good fresh air for sure. I forgot how much road noise there is though.  I am much happier with all the fresh air. I hope soon the nights will be warm enough that I can leave the windows open all night long and enjoy the fresh air.

Today will be partly sunny, with a high of 67 degrees at 3pm. Thirty degrees above normal for this day in February! Maximum dew point of 50 at 3pm. That should help dry up some of the mud, especially with the expected wind. More clouds later. South wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. At least with the snow melting the ground is plenty wet. A year ago, we had snow and a high of 38 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1984. I think that record is going down in the history books, I will have to update the records file. 6.9 inches of snow fell back in 1935.

The sun will set at 5:38 pm with dusk around 6:06 pm, which is 1 minute and 16 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have exactly 11 hours of daylight, an increase of 2 minutes and 49 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly after 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 44 degrees at 6am. 25 degrees above normal. South wind 5 to 9 mph becoming calm in the evening. Definitely good weather for tailgate drinking. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 32 degrees with periods of rain and snow and thunderstorm. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1894.

I’m definitely thinking more about camping soon, although I don’t think this weekend. I think today I am going to order the low-voltage shut-off relay, so as soon as it gets nice, I can install it. Two weeks from Saturday, the time changes. I don’t know how busy I will be in March but if the snow is gone and the weather is nice, I may get out camping. I miss sitting out by the fire.

Looking ahead, there are 14 weeks until Start of June when the sun will be setting at 8:27 pm with dusk at 9:01 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2016, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 85 and 57 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 74 degrees. We hit a record high of 94 back in 1918.