Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Looks like it’s going to be a cold and snowy week coming up. Next Monday is First Day of Winter ☃️. Cloudy and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 9 pm. ☃️

It looks this week will have some snow 🌨 but the question remains how much. Nothing yet this morning but maybe some later on today. Only time will tell. Do we get just a dusting or a few inches from the storm on Wednesday evening? I am not really sure but I’m leaning towards less snow ⛄ and more cold. Even if we get snow I’m not seeing it last because I think there is a warming trend ahead. But what do I know, I’m biased as I want to camp during Christmas holiday 🎄 in the Adirondacks.

Today will snow have snow showers, mainly before 11am. Cloudy 🌨, with a high of 35 degrees at 3pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 17th. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 46 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1901. 12.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.❄

As I was running 🏃🏻 a bit late, I did my morning walk over at the Swift Preserve. Spotted a red tail hawk which almost grabbed a chipmunk 🐿 there but he got away. 🐦 No bluebirds today but a bunch of house sparrows were hanging out in the preserve today. It’s nice having that little area so close to home, even if it’s just some wetlands that a developer wasn’t allowed to develop.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:51 am with sun having an altitude of 24.1° from the due south horizon (-46.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 13 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 35 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 31 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers between 10pm and 11pm. Partly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 24 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 9th. Northwest wind 11 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of -8 occurred back in 1874.

Today in 1994, started construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river.🌊 The Three Gorges Dam has been the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW) since 2012. ⚡ In 2014, the dam generated 98.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) and had the world record, but was surpassed by the Itaipú Dam, which set the new world record in 2016, producing 103.1 TWh. 🏛️Also, today was a notable date in civil rights history, with the release of the Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964), a landmark United States Supreme Court case holding that the Commerce Clause gave the U.S. Congress power to force private businesses to abide by Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations. 🖤

Maybe some snow melting this weekend. ☀ Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 32. Sunday, a chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 38. Chance of precipitation is 30%. 🏔️ Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees.

As previously noted, next Monday is First Day of Winter ☃️ when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. On that day in 2019, we had cold, partly cloudy and temperatures between 24 and 8 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2018.