March 9, 2017 Evening

Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 40 degrees in City of Albany. There is a west-northwest breeze at 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. Kind of raw with that wind. Unlike last year, we did not hit 81 degrees today. We might get a pretty good snowstorm come next Tuesday. Still winter until around May 1st in New York. Or maybe May 15th in the Adirondacks. 

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 27 degrees at 4am. Three degrees above normal. West wind 8 to 13 mph becoming light northwest in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, it got down to 55 degrees with periods of fog and rain. The record low of zero was set back in 1996.

Waxing Gibbous Moon tonight with 84% illuminated. The moon will set around 5:45 am. The Full β€œWorm” Moon is on Sunday night with mostly clear but frigid skies expected. The sun will rise at 6:15 am with the first light at 5:47 am, which is one minute and 43 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 12 hours and 18 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 53 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of snow, mainly between 1pm and 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high of 33 degrees at 12pm. Seven degrees below normal. Light northwest wind becoming west 13 to 18 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had fog, rain and a high of 66 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 1977. 5.7 inches of snow fell back in 1964.

Colder then Siberia this weekend with temperatures running 19 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 21. Wind chill values as low as -6. Northwest wind 14 to 17 mph. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 25. Typical average high for the weekend is 42 degrees.

In four weeks on April 6 the sun will be setting at 7:27 pm (Daylight Savings Time), which is one hour, 32 minutes and 21 seconds later then today. In 2016 on that day, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 44 and 17 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 54 and 34 degrees. The record high of 82 degrees was set back in 1921. I wouldn’t mind some 82 degree weather around now. 

Looking ahead, Palm Sunday is in one month and Start of June is in 12 weeks.

White House plans to ‘close out’ Energy Star, other programs — Monday, March 6, 2017 — www.eenews.net

EPA: White House plans to ‘close out’ Energy Star, other programs — Monday, March 6, 2017 — www.eenews.net

"A preliminary budget proposal from the White House would eliminate federal leadership of Energy Star, a popular voluntary program for companies to seek labels for energy-efficient consumer products and appliances."

"A spending blueprint would slash Energy Star and related programs, leaving $5 million "for the closeout or transfer of all the climate protection voluntary partnership programs," noting that achieving that might require changes to authorizing legislation from Congress."

March 9, 2017 8 AM Update

Good morning! Not a half bad walk down to the express bus.Β Partly sunny and 40 degrees in Delmar. Breezy, 16 mph breeze from the west. The current wind chill is 26. Listening to Canned Heat’s nearly half century old hippie hit song, Going Up the Country.

Today will be mostly sunny, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees above normal. Breezy, with a west wind 16 to 20 mph. Definitely not a half bad day for the second week of March. With ten days and like 14 hours there is hope for calendar spring. None of can know what April will bring but hopefully things will green up quickly.

The sun will set at 5:55 pm with dusk around 6:23 pm, which is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 11 hours and 40 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday. Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 27 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal. Northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, it got down to 55 degrees with periods of fog and rain. The record low of 0 occurred back in 1996.

Today in 1959, Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York. She would probably be declared a sexist bimbo today. Moving right along, now …

There is oneΒ month until Palm Sunday when the sun will be setting at 7:31 pm with dusk at 8:00 pm (Daylight Savings Time). The average high temperature is 55 degrees, with a record high of 71 in 1991. It will be nicer when it starts to warm up.

This weekend still looks really cold with temperatures running about 17 degrees below normal for mid March. People are going to freeze their collective asses off on Saturday for Saint Patrick’s Day parades, especially now that the friendly local politicians have decided to ban street drinking and subsequent throwing broken glass bottles into the street. But with the wind that is expected its best to plan your drinking this weekend next to the woodstove or heater. Maybe it will be marginally good enough to go hiking come Sunday, if I do it somewhere in a valley, protected from the wind.

Possible snow tomorrow.Β Not a lot but a quick dusting, maybe an inch. And then possibly a half foot of snow come Tuesday. Not a big snow storm, but it doesn’t look like we will be making it to spring without more snow. I guess that is to be expected, it being March and everything else.

Still feeling a bit sick to the stomach today,Β but better then yesterday. Little achy last night, but I don’t think it’s really a cold. Maybe it’s just the weather or something I ate. Those peas are healthy but maybe I got to mix up my veggies more. With work and colder temperatures, I’ve not been getting out walking as much as I often do. I should do my evening walk, but I’ve gotten tired of freezing my ass off, and I try to get to bed by 9 PM so I have enough sleep every night — especially because I’ve been getting up early due to early sunrises (which end Saturday with the time change for around a month). I’m sure once the weather gets better, I will feel better.

Been getting up earlier this week in preparation for the time change next week.Β I always hate those first few days of the time change, but it will be nice having that extra sunshine after work. And if I do decide to buy that Belgium waffle maker, I will better waffles to put my fruit on come next week. But I’m still undecided about that. It’s just more stuff. And I don’t like having more stuff.

March 9, 2017 Morning

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Mostly sunny and 42 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 14 mph. Chilly with the wind but otherwise sunny morning. 

Today will be mostly sunny, with a high of 43 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal. Breezy, with a west wind 14 to 20 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies and a high of 81 degrees.  That is the record high. 6.9 inches of snow fell back in 1961.

Sun for the most part comes up pretty early these days but with the time change Sunday, it won’t start rising until 7:05 AM at least for the first week. By April though the 6 AM sunrise will be back.