Good evening! It maybe morning now. Mostly cloudy and 66 degrees up on Hector Backbone. There is a east-northeast breeze at 6 mph. The dew point is 63 degrees. Still rather muggy even though the temperature has dropped. The skies will clear Tuesday around 10 am.

I thought it was a pretty good day even if there wasn’t a lot of sun. I tell you the weather got down right depressing around sunset due to all the gray with only a few hints of sunset and some extra darkness due to the impending rain shower that lasted only about a minute. 

Went out to Montezuma Wildlife Refuge and then to the Audubon Center in Savanna, and while the birds weren’t as numerous or colorful as during peak migration like when I was up there in April 2016, it wasn’t bad. The humidity thought was quite oppressive and I was happy to spend as much time as possible in my air conditioned truck. 

Somebody got my favorite spot on Chicken Coop Road but I’m going to see if he leaves tomorrow and I can pick it up for the rest of the week. The campsite I am at is quite nice and will have beautiful sunsets over Seneca Lake and views of the hill across the lake especially at night with city lights but I’m a bit worried about severe weather being located at the highest point of Hector Backbone – and the highest point between the Finger Lakes. I bet thunderstorms really roar on over. And I would prefer to be able to hike back to Foster Lake and enjoy the stars at night. I love laying on my back next to the lake on the berm until almost midnight. This campsite is set back a ways from the parking which means I have to walk maybe 50 feet to my table and fire pit, which means if it’s raining I’ll get wet between my truck and hiking back to the campsite. And that’s no fun. I will see. I don’t necessarily want to move camp yet another time but I don’t think it will be that difficult to re-set up as right now it’s just the one tarp and normal camp gear.  I do have great 4G LTE service up here. 

Tomorrow I do need to get some food and supplies at the store and I’m hoping the Watkins Glen pool is open so I can use the shower. Swimming will be fun if it’s not too cold and cloudy. Then I’ll see if my usual campsite is open and move back there. In 2016, I spent 10 nights there, the most of any campsite I did that year. I really like the layout with my truck camper. 

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 64 degrees at 4am. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 63 at 10pm. East wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1981.

Tonight will have a New Moon. The Strugeon Moon is on Monday, August 7th. The sun will rise at 5:50 am with the first light at 5:17 am, which is 56 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 51 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 76 degrees at 3pm. Seven degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 2pm. East wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 91 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1955.

In four weeks on August 19 the sun will be setting at 8:01 pm, which is 35 minutes and 14 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 85 and 65 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 80 and 60 degrees. The record high of 92 degrees was set back in 1899.

Looking ahead, National Lasagna Day is Next Saturday, Last Sunset After 8 PM is in 3 weeks, National Dog Day is in 5 weeks, Lowville Cream Cheese Festival is in 8 weeks, Autumn Begins is in 2 months and Beaver Moon is in 15 weeks.