Good evening! Mostly sunny and 85 degrees in City of Albany. There is a south breeze at 6 mph. The dew point is 55 degrees. Hardly feels that warm with such a low dew point but more humidity will push in as the evening progresses. 

The sun will set at 8:35 pm with dusk around 9:10 pm, which is 19 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly clear conditions and 78 degrees. The dew point will be 61 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph.

Tonight will have increasing clouds, with a low of 63 degrees at 4am. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 61 at 8pm. South wind 5 to 8 mph. In 2016, it got down to 64 degrees with mostly clear skies. The record low of 47 occurred back in 1962.

Waxing Gibbous Moon tonight with 82% illuminated. The moon will set around 4:49 am. The Full “Buck” Moon is on Sunday night with partly cloudy skies expected and mostly clear. The sun will rise at 5:23 am with the first light at 4:49 am, which is 39 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 8 hours and 48 minutes of darkness, an increase of 59 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy, with a high of 83 degrees at 4pm. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 62 at 6pm. Another nice day but with a touch of humidity. South wind 7 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies and a high of 90 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1886.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. Saturday, scattered showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Maximum dew point of 66 at 6am. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 81. Maximum dew point of 58 at 8pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 82 degrees.

While I have until to decide tomorrow afternoon what my plans are for the weekend, I’m a bit undecided. I was just out camping, I just out my gear away. Maybe I should do something this weekend because I’m burning summer but I don’t know. Saturday might be stormy. Maybe I should take a wait and see approach. 

In four weeks on August 2 the sun will be setting at 8:13 pm, which is 22 minutes and 15 seconds earlier then today. In 2016 on that day, we had thunderstorm, thunderstorm rain, rain, shallow fog, patches of fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 77 and 62 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 82 and 61 degrees. The record high of 97 degrees was set back in 1975.

Today I was noticing how dirty some of the older Gillig buses in CDTA’s fleet have gotten.You would think in such a progressive state where they are always going after semi trucks for excessive emissions in the South End, that they would fix the buses side they burn cleanly. Those old buses are only like 8-10 years old now and while they probably have issues with engine’s compression, they should be overhauled so they aren’t polluting so much in already polluted urban areas – especially when owner operators of semi trucks are being cracked down upon. I guess government doesn’t believe in regulating itself. 

That said, I hate how they run the bus service as a poverty service. There should be higher fares, and more taxpayer investment in the service to maximize quality so more people choose to use transit. Government should work to serve the public interest, not the interest of the poor specifically. Poor people are benefited by good government services provided too, maybe even more than the general public. Public services should quality and if that means the poor pays a little more, that’s fine. 

Looking ahead, Last Day with Average High of 80 is in 7 weeks, (Shine on) Harvest Moon is in 9 weeks, 6:30 PM Sunset is in 13 weeks, Hunter’s Moon is in 3 months, Daylight Savings Time Ends is in 4 months, Coldest Day of Year (Avg. 14-30 degrees) is in 27 weeks and Inaugeration Day 2021 is in 185 weeks.