December 8, 2019 11 AM Update

Talk about a pretty nice morning for skiing. 🎿 Partly sunny β˜€ and 19 degrees at the Albany County Rail Trail. There is a south breeze at 13 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 7. There are 15 inches of snow on the ground. β˜ƒ ️

It could be a a bit warmer but the snow is good ❄ and not too icy. Outside of the windy spots on the trail with the sun it’s quite nice β˜€. Not sure how long the sun will last into the afternoon.

I had no problems starting up Big Red 🚘 as the batteries were well charged 🔋 with the solar giving ample cranking amps. I left both connected while I’m out skiing so things should be fully charged by the time I get back with the bright 🔆 sun.

Not a lot of people on the rail trail but I’m quite fine with that. 👪 Once I get back I’ll run to the store then maybe do a little more skiing 🎿 before I head out to the folks house for Sunday dinner. 🍲

December 8, 2019 Morning

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Frigid start to the morning but very sunny. Next Sunday is Bill of Rights Day 📜. Tear it up and it makes good bedding in the cow barn. 🐮 Mostly sunny and 17 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. There are 11 inches of snow on the ground. β˜ƒ Lot less snow then six days ago for sure. Even though it’s been relatively cold the sun has done a number on the snow. ️It’s actually warming up pretty quickly and shortly I plan to head out skiing 🎿. Things will start to thaw out at around 2 pm. 🌡️

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 35 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 17th. Light south wind increasing to 10 to 15 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1927. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 2001.❄

Should be a great morning for skiing 🎿 at least until the clouds roll in and the sky wind picks up. But for sure I’m wearing wool socks and thermal underwear this morning as it’s cold ❄. Then I got to pick up a few things at the grocery store but it’s a fairly short list. Just going to stop at Hannaford. I’m thinking about making a quick and easy pumpkin 🎃 pie for office Christmas party 🎄.

The sun will set at 4:21 pm with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 4 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 Tomorrow is the earliest sunset of the year and it will be particularly dark evening with heavy rain β˜” in expected tomorrow. Tonight at sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 33 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 15 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, an decrease of one minute over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 34 degrees at 6pm. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 8th. Breezy, with a south wind 15 to 20 mph decreasing to 8 to 13 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Might even feel colder tonight even though the mercury is higher. In 2018, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1902. Now that’s a true sign that winter has arrived.

This is shocking and sad. In 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, ✈ a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning ⚑ and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. That’s actually kind of a horrifying tragedy but airplanes are a lot safer now.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until National Bird Day 🐧 when the sun will be setting at 4:35 pm with dusk at 5:07 pm. Birds the word! 🐦 On that day in 2019, we had rain and temperatures between 40 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1950.

Tree

Ride A Long In East Tennessee

I follow MD Creekmore's prepper channel on the YouTube. I was just watching this video of him visiting a creek down the way from his homestead as I was curious what the land looks like in part of Tennessee.

Reminds me a lot of Appalachia, a lot like parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Pretty country and I've heard they're a lot more laid back than New York. One of the girls I went to High School with and farms now in New York is thinking about moving there due to the better gun laws and lower taxes.Β I think I should also put it on my list of states to explore further.Β