How Lighthouses Work

SYSK Selects: How Lighthouses Work

3/20/21 by iHeartRadio

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/120662055
Episode: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/chtbl.com/track/5899E/traffic.megaphone.fm/HSW5578205783.mp3

People have been burning fires on cliffs as long as other people have used boats, but after the Age of Exploration, lighthouses took their unmistakable form and the great stories of the people who kept the lights around the world began.

March 22, 2021 Morning

Good morning! It always seems to be a Monday. Sunny and 35 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Calm wind. A pleasant spring morning. The air is very dry but the woods very muddy. I stayed entirely on roads for most point hiking yesterday at Partridge Run. Up bright and early this morning, windows open, and heading out for my morning walk shortly. 🚶‍♂️

It was a nice weekend, but it came and went so quick. 💨 Maybe I should have made more ambitious plans for the weekend that was but everything is so muddy outside. I’m just waiting for things melt away in higher elevations and maybe dry out a bit before heading north. 🏕 I was thinking Easter Weekend would be a nice weekend to get away with Good Friday but it seems like we might be getting another big snow storm that last week of March. So enjoy the late April and early May weather before Mr. NOAA takes it away. Partridge Run was pretty nice, although I wish the roads were snow and ice free up there for easier walking.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 64 degrees at 3pm. 17 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 28th. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 2012. 7 inches of snow fell back in 1887.❄

I plan to run to store at lunch time, 🛍 gas up the truck ⛽ and wash the remaining salt off it. 🚿 I have meetings in the morning but after that lunch time I should be good to go. I could go to the library this afternoon, but if I do I will just walk because I can pretty much do what I need to as my hotspot expires this week and I have plenty of bandwidth to use before it reset. 💻 I am a bit too careful with my data use I have to admit. 💉 Getting my big shot tomorrow, so I want to get everything I can done today, in case I feel sick or at least have a very sore arm tomorrow into Wednesday, 🩹 although I’ve heard April 15th is the day I should be concerned with, 😲 even though I don’t owe taxes on the day of second one. Well, except for a quarterly tax payment, 💰 which I totally overdid this year. Thinking of swinging by the auto parts store to get some touch up paint, and sanding off some of the rust spots, putting matching paint and clear coat over it on red. I have some truck cap paint, but not sure if that will work on other body panels. 🚗

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 48.2° from the due south horizon (-22.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. Yes, we are beyond spring, with sun north of equator, so shadows are rapidly getting shorter and days nicer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:33 pm with the sun in the west (266°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (272°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:10 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:38 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southeast (151°) at an altitude of 71° from the horizon, 244,133 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:12 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 56 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 12 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over today.

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 32 degrees at 6am. It will get down to freezing tonight, so I should close the windows, but maybe not turn the heat back on. But warmer nights are not that uncommon in the second half of March. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 1st. 🎣 Trout season. South wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -4 occurred back in 1875.

The mild weather pattern continues into the weekend. 🌻 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 54. Sunday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 53. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Typical average high for the weekend is 49 degrees. Continued warmth for a few more days. One thing to watch is how quick the disturbance will be that will hit during to second half of the week. We could use more rain, although it will certainly make everything more muddy. 🥾

One month 📅 from now will be Earth Day 🌎 when the sun will be setting at 7:45 pm with dusk at 8:15 pm. Plenty of time to think about what you can do to make lots of black smoke to celebrate that holiday, like throttling up your tractor hauling manure 🚜 or burning something real noxious like that broken tabletop radio. 🔥 And be otherwise generally obnoxious to celebrate Earth Day. I did roll my windows down last night going through Clarksville to take a breath in of the dairy air and fresh earthy smell of dirt and manure in the spring time. 🐮 At least that pile of pig shit and rotting guts in the field up the way from parents house isn’t as pungent as it once was. 👃🏼 Nice rednecks doing nice things. I’ll leave the post on that note.

March 22, 2021 – Looking Ahead This Week

Most of this week is going to feel more like late April through mid-May at least temperature wise, although the dew points will be exceptionally low, with Tuesday’s dewpoint only reaching 26 degrees. So don’t be outside burning noxious things like poopy diapers and broken lawn chairs in rip-roaring fires on your big ol’ farm on a dirt road in Chenango County, as you’ll risk setting your field on fire and getting the wrath of the greeny enforcers with the wind and low dewpoint. But do get out and enjoy the nice weather, at least with your muck boots on because you’ll be twiddles deep in the mud.

Weather Summary
Today.
Feels like …
April 30th.
Sunny and 64 degrees , 7:10 sunset.
Tonight.
Feels like …
April 2nd.
Clear and 32 degrees , 6:52 sunrise.
Tuesday.
Feels like …
May 2nd.
Sunny and 65 degrees , 26 max dew point, 7:11 sunset.
Tuesday Night.
Feels like …
April 18th.
Partly Cloudy and 38 degrees , 6:50 sunrise.
Wednesday.
Feels like …
April 17th.
Partly Sunny and 59 degrees , 7:12 sunset.
Wednesday Night.
Feels like …
May 14th.
Slight Chance of Showers and 46 degrees , 6:48 sunrise.
Thursday.
Feels like …
May 19th.
Partly Sunny and 70 degrees , 44 max dew point, 7:13 sunset.
Thursday Night.
Feels like …
June 1st.
Mostly Cloudy then Chance of Showers and 52 degrees , 6:47 sunrise.
Friday.
Feels like …
May 9th.
Showers is likely and 67 degrees , 52 max dew point, 7:14 sunset.
Friday Night.
Feels like …
April 27th.
Chance of Showers and 41 degrees , 6:45 sunrise.
Saturday.
Feels like …
April 6th.
Mostly Sunny and 54 degrees , 7:15 sunset.
Saturday Night.
Feels like …
April 10th.
Mostly Cloudy and 35 degrees , 6:43 sunrise.
Sunday.
Feels like …
April 4th.
Chance of Showers and 53 degrees , 7:17 sunset.

Nice early spring morning