If it was only about 35 degrees colder, we would be blowing through the 1887 snow fall record. Though when it’s cold out the PWAT values usually drop. At any rate, it’s a pretty good soaker, with multiple inches of rain expected today. I heard a loud drip drop this morning, and I started to wonder if I had a roof leak. It actually was the rain falling on the pan of soup I had cooling outside. Maybe some rain got into soup, but hopefully most of it rolled off the top of the pan. And it was a lot cooler by the time I brought it into the fridge on my way off to work.

Good morning! Rain and 54 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south-southeast breeze at 15 mph. 🍃. Actually, maybe not umbrella weather. Bring your rain coat and plan to get wet. The dew point is 53 degrees. It’s pretty wet outside. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 pm. ☃️

Definitely a wet morning. 🌧 No bike ride in for me this morning. I was hoping to get in early and walk lapse on the plaza concourse 🚶‍♀️ but I ended up catching the later express in by the time I got done cooking 👨‍🍳 and fiddling around on social media. Something about the hemp plastic bottles 🍾 really triggered me. I’m all for sustainability but this new-age hipster stuff annoys me to no end.

Today will rain, mainly before 5pm. 🌧 The rain will continue to be rather heavy at times. Hope your windshield wipers are in good condition Temperature rising to near 57 by 10am, then falling to around 46 during the remainder of the day. Breezy, with a south wind 15 to 20 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 60 was set in 1921. 17.0 inches of snow fell back in 1887.❄

I am not complaining about how mild it is outside despite the rain. 💦 Heat’s been off all weekend as it’s been so mild, above freezing. It will probably be back on this week. 🔌 That said my December power bill was high — $90.74 or about $20 higher then it ordinarily would be mostly due to all the cooking I’ve been doing. I run the oven two or three times a week for a couple of hours cooking, with the stove top full too. But I’ve also been eating a lot healthier, and I like all that fresh bread 🍞, baked sweet potatoes 🥔 and squash. 🍠 I guess I can afford the higher electric and grocery bills 💸 if it means better eating and better health. 👨‍⚕️ Diabetes or cardiac arrest isn’t cheap even with insurance, so that’s a disease I want to avoid to get all possible.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:53 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 21 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south (174°) at an altitude of 38° from the horizon, 226,341 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:32 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 46 degrees. Breezy, 18 mph breeze ⛅ from the west-northwest with gusts up to 29mph. Today will have 9 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 17 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday I picked up the stove burner and drip plate, ♨️ and now the stove works excellent. Stove burner ended up costing like $35 but whatever, we live in inflationary times, and I wanted to be able to cook again with a 8 inch burner and not bother the landlord. 🏘 My rent is in the single digit percent of my income at this point, I don’t want to give the landlord any incentive to raise it though he usually does every 3-4 years, so it’s due for a hike next summer. 🔥 I also replaced my smoke detector which was malfunctioning even with a new battery, and got one of those photo-detector smoke detectors, which I can confirm doesn’t go off every time I cook unlike the old fashion style ones. 🤑 It is really great — I was doing a lot of cooking this morning but no false alarm. 👩‍🚒 Again more money, that my landlord should be picking up, but after 16 years I’ve beat enough out of my apartment so it’s not like I’m doing him that much of a favor, but I want to keep it livable and safe — and I know the landlord would probably not spring for a photo-detector, but a cheaper ionizing detector I’d be setting off each morning at 5:30 AM when I cook. If the smoke detector is disabled, it can’t worn you in a fire.

It was fun watching the Nutcracker my niece was performing in. 👼 🎄 It is the first live performance I’ve seen since I saw one at the Egg during High School classes. Suprisingly well done, though the chairs at the SUNY PAC were a bit uncomfortable and I had to pee by the end of the show. I probably should have gone for a leg stretcher during the intermission. Then we went out to new Mexican restaurant at Slingerlands Shopping Plaza. 🌮 🌯 Maybe not the healthiest meal ever but it was good. Always great to spend time with the family. 👪

Tonight will have a chance of rain before 7pm, then a chance of showers after 2am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 34 degrees at 6am. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 9th. West wind 7 to 11 mph becoming south after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1973.

As it was wet and raining out, I took the bus to work but I want to walk this evening 🏃 as yesterday I didn’t get in 10,000 steps but that’s my goal today. I will walk during lunch time, and then hopefully get out after dinner. 👣 I think it might be chilly tonight with e wind but I think if the rain pulls off I can bundle up and be warm. It’s winter, I’m adult, I’ll survive. Maybe my fingers will be cold, I’ll wear gloves. 🧤

Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched today in 1958. 🛰 This first purpose-built communications satellite experiment consisted of 2 identical communications repeater terminals mounted in the guidance pods along the sides of the launch vehicle. The experiment was to test the feasibility and explore problems associated with, using satellites for communications purposes. No modulation was received on the carrier wave from experiment package no. 1. Voice and teletype messages were sent and returned in real-time, and also from experiment tape recorder no. 2. The tape recorder was loaded with new material 28 times and failure finally was due to battery depletion. The experiment receiver and transmitter operated on 150 and 132 MHz, respectively. 🇸🇦 Interesting technology, though seems so dated in the era of Starlink.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 38. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 41. Christmas Day — Monday, Partly sunny, with a high near 44. Typical average high for the weekend is 36 degrees. I am thinking of taking Friday off and maybe Thursday off. I might work from home on Wednesday, to make for a short work week, but I want to get further into the week to decide based on the forecast.

Looking ahead to Christmas, next Monday is Christmas 🎅 when the sun will be setting at 4:28 pm with dusk at 4:59 pm. That’s when I plan to come home after my trip. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 27 and 11 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 1889.