Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Four weeks to Ground Hog Day. Partly sunny and 5 degrees in Delmar, NY. Breezy, 17 mph breeze from the west-northwest with gusts up to 28 mph. The current wind chill is -17.
This morning reminds me of how I remember winters from years ago. It seemed like 20 years ago cold, windy winter days with blowing snow and snow on the roads, especially in the city were the norm in the city. Maybe I remember wrong from my youth but it always used to seem like winter was harsher. Granted I dressed in layers and wore a face mask to the bus, and planned it out so I had no more than a two minute wait. Not to mention the wind had dropped off a bit by the time I went out for the bus. I didn’t turn the heat down before bed, so that lasted have been part of my reaction, it was plenty warm when I stepped out of bed.
Only 74 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!
Today will be scattered flurries. Partly sunny and cold, with a high of 7 degrees at 1pm. 21 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -19 at 6pm; Breezy, with a west wind 17 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 29 degrees. The record high of 64 was set in 1950. 8 inches of snow fell back in 1891.
The sun will set at 4:37 pm with dusk around 5:08 pm, which is 59 seconds later than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly cloudy conditions and 4 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be -17. Breezy, 20 mph breeze from the west-northwest with gusts up to 31mph. Today will have 9 hours and 11 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 5 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of -5 degrees at 5am. 20 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -28 at 6am; Northwest wind 16 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. In 2017, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 12 degrees. The record low of -19 occurred back in 1996.
I bet it will be plenty colder for the bus heading home this evening, but I’m prepared, and will wear my face mask and gloves.
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Ground Hog Day when the sun will be setting at 5:11 pm with dusk at 5:40 pm. On that day in 2017, we had snow, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 35 and 18 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1981.
