February 7, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Next Friday is Valentines Day ❀️. Rain, mist and 36 degrees at the Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. β˜” There is a northeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There is a inch of snow and ice on the ground. β˜ƒ Going to rain all day until it turns to snow and then gets real cold. Hello, February. ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 2 pm. β˜ƒοΈ

I decided to walk down to the express bus 🚍 but it was raining or misting fairly hard. Not a nice day to be outside and it only is going to get worse. Reminds me of that one night I camped up on the Boereas River and NY 28 several years ago in December. β›Ί Icy snow and rain. That was before I had the propane heater and only a very smokey campfire to keep warm.

I knocked the remaining snow and ice off Big Red 🚘 in hopes things won’t be too much of a frozen mess come Saturday. Still not sure if I’m going to drive anywhere tomorrow, it’s going to be pretty bitterly cold with the wind but a fair amount of sun β˜€. I might just stay home and walk down to the library 📚.

Today will rain and sleet before 2pm, then rain and snow between 2pm and 3pm, then snow likely after 3pm. Temperature falling to around 27 by 5pm. β˜”β›„ Windy, with a northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west 19 to 29 mph. Winds could gust as high as 49 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 48 was set in 2005. 12.4 inches of snow fell back in 1983.❄

I totally expect a miserable and slow icy commute home this evening 💦 but maybe they’ll close the office early or they’ll get a lot of salt on the roads to prevent icing. The good news is that I live in the city so not so far to go. If it’s bad and I don’t see the local coming I’ll take the local home. 🚍

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 32Β° from the due south horizon (-38.9Β° vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:36 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (243Β°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (250Β°) starting at 5:13 pm and lasts for 3 minutes and 5 seconds with dusk around 5:45 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌖 Moon in the east (80Β°) at an altitude of 24Β° from the horizon, 232,013 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:19 pm. At sunset, look for snow showers 🌨 and temperatures around 27 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 11. β˜ƒοΈBlustery, 🌬 with a stiff breeze at 30 mph the west-northwest with gusts up to 52mph. Going to be frigid, especially downtown. I turned my heat up a few degrees before leaving home to ensure my apartment isn’t too cold by the time I get home on what will be the most blustery of evenings. Today will have 10 hours and 13 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 30 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before 7pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 16 degrees at 4am. Typical for tonight. Maximum wind chill around 4 at 6am; Windy, with a west wind 24 to 29 mph decreasing to 17 to 22 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 48 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1950.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 29 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees below normal. West wind 10 to 17 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 52 was set in 1925. 14 inches of snow fell back in 1895.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon. β˜€ Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

🌹🌻🌼Only 41 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

As previously noted, next Friday is Valentines Day ❀️ when the sun will be setting at 5:25 pm with dusk at 5:54 pm. On that day in 2019, we had snow showers, partly cloudy and temperatures between 37 and 26 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1946.

Frozen Swamp Above the Gulf

I have been monitoring the CDTA real time feed to see how much the electric buses are running

I have been monitoring the CDTA real time feed to see how much the electric buses are running. 🚍 ⚑

It seems that the first electric bus entered revenue service (1900) at before 6:30 am today and all four (1900-1903) are in service now. The last one that was in service last night was the 1903 which was running until around 7 pm although until after rush hour at 6 pm so was 1901 and 1902. I am curious to see how late the fleet will stay out on the road, probably all day. 

Today’s Almanac for Friday February 7

Today’s Almanac

Night before dawn is 6 hours and 33 minutes,
Dawn starts at 6:33 am and runs for 29 minutes,
Sunrise is at 7:02 am which is 4 hours and 57 minutes before noon,
High noon, the transit of the sun, is at 12:09 pm,
From twelve noon to the sunset at 5:16 pm is 5 hours and 16 minutes,
Dusk lasts for 30 minutes concluding at 5:45 pm,
Leaving 6 hours and 14 minutes until midnight.

Winter