Going to get cooler as the day goes on, but not too bad this morning. Gotta save the $1.30 bus fare and get my exercise in. Going to be a decent morning for the bike ride in and combines both the commute with at least some exercise. Then it’s up the 18 stairs in Alfred E Smith Building. Won’t be much longer that I am doing this commute, due to snow and new office location in the suburbs, though I plan to ride in to the new office when the weather is decent.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Mostly cloudy and 32 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. The skies will clear around 1 pm. I’ll take a morning like this for December. Good enough for me to ride in certainly. Especially as I think snow is coming next week, which will make the ride in at least along the rail trail impossible, to say nothing of session or moving to the new office, assuming that happens next week.

I made some pretty good pancakes this morning 🥞, skipping the bananas as I’m running low, using an egg as the binder, along with a mixture that was 2/3rd ground oatmeal and 1/3rd whole-wheat flower, along with some water, olive oil and baking powder. I’ve been more careful about much baking powder I use for these kinds of things — the alum can quickly make things bitter. 😒 Gave it a bit of time to rise, then made delicious fluffy pancakes. Topped with shredded in the food-processor frozen strawberries and 100% pure-maple syrup. 🍓 I’ve decided it’s not worth it to use sugar-free syrup. There are health benefits to using pure-maple syrup like antioxidants, and the calorie difference might not really be that much different as there is some evidence that sugar-free syrups still spike insulin and can encourage you to eat in excess. 🍁 Pure maple syrup is expensive, as it requires so much raw sap, so it’s something to use sparingly.

Today will have a chance of snow showers between 8am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny 🌦, with a high of 38 degrees at 11am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 21st. Light and variable wind becoming northwest 13 to 18 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. We could use some sun, it’s been kind of a dreary winter, being so mild but not so sunny. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 64 was set in 1950. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 2003.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.6° from the due south horizon (-46.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:50 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 5:06 pm, which is 55 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:42 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌃 and temperatures around 32 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 20. ☃️ Breezy, 18 mph breeze ⛅ from the northwest with gusts up to 29mph. Brr. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 13 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute over today.

This evening I thinking of running into the office 🏢 after hours when parking is free 🅿️ to load my boxes of stuff 📦 and plants and bring them home in part of the moving process. I am going to be working out of a temporary office the next few months, so I’ll probably just leave the plants at home 🌿 by the window until I have my permanent office. I worry about them being too cold at home or even the shock of bringing them home on such a cold night, but I think I need to get them cleared out. 🍏 Plus I’m getting low on food again, especially so I can cook 👩‍🍳 for the family party that I am going to on Saturday, assuming it’s not canceled due to the impending snow storm. ❄️

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 17 degrees at 5am. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical Maximum wind chill around 13 at 1am; Northwest wind 7 to 14 mph. Going to need that heat on tonight. Almost wish I head some bread to bake in the morning. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became patches of fog by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of -24 occurred back in 1904.

The chances of snow are increasing come the weekend. ⛄ Saturday, a slight chance of snow after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 34. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Sunday, snow. High near 32. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Well, it is January. You expect the snow to come at some point. But looking at the real long range, I have questions on how long the snow will last. It might rain on Tuesday into Wednesday, but then again, things could change.

Honey, you should knote, there are 2 weeks until Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 when the sun will be setting at 4:51 pm with dusk at 5:21 pm. On that day in 2023, we had cloudy weather that was generally mild except for the freezing rain showers early in the morning and temperatures between 44 and 32 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1973.