Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Next Tuesday is August 1st. Cloudy and damp with occasional breaks of sun with mercury around 60 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest outside of Watkins Glen. There is a northwest breeze at 9 mph. The dew point is 57 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 7 am.

Today will have a chance of showers before 3pm, then patchy drizzle with a slight chance of showers after 3pm. Cloudy, with a high of 64 degrees at 2pm. 19 degrees below normal. Pretty cold for late July which is supposed to the warmest time of year. Maximum dew point of 59 at 3pm. Northwest wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had sunny skies. The high last year was 89 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1963.

What can I say but the weather was much nicer last year. Who would have guessed it would have been so cold and wet this year? The past few years it’s been really nice during this week. I am going to get cleaned up, shaved and then will head down to Watkins Glen. 

I will probably go down to the library for a while and then if it clears up, I will go to the Watkins Glen pool. Not going to be a great day for swimming but without the thunderstorms today it should be open and it’s a way to wash all the mud off good. 

The sun will set at 8:33 pm with dusk around 9:06 pm, which is 58 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy conditions and 62 degrees. The dew point will be 58 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 40 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 56 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low of 57 degrees at 4am. Five degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 6pm. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2016, we had clear skies. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 46 occurred back in 1976.

Tomorrow’s weather looks much better and I will probably head down to Taughannock and enjoy the Cayuga Lake beach and maybe paddle around the cove and kayak fish if it’s not too windy. Not going to be real warm though but it’s fun to visit different places. I still would like to swim in Enfield Glen but I doubt that will open before the end of week based on the current forecast. 
I do want to paddle from Seneca Lake to Montour Falls via the Montour Falls Canal later this week. But I have to put in along the southern shore of Seneca Lake and paddle a quarter mile to reach the canal do it can’t be too windy. 

I am not sure if I will spend the balance of the week in the Finger Lakes or head down to Pennsylvania for the weekend. Being so wet I’m leaning towards staying here. The Allegheny Wilds and Presque Isle aren’t going anywhere and there is plenty to do here in the Finger Lakes. And at one level, I don’t actually mind the rain because it’s giving me an excuse to hang out and not rush to do as possible during that short period known as vacation. 

On this day in 1965, Bob Dylan goes electric as he plugs in at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music. The crowds boo and his. Not very respectful. In 1993, The Saint James Church massacre occurs in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa. Liberals use it as an excuse to take away people’s gun rights in Australia, which weren’t protected by an active gun culture or second admendment like in America.

As previously noted, next Tuesday is August 1st when the sun will be setting at 8:26 pm with dusk at 8:57 pm. On that day in 2016, we had rain, drizzle, patches of fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 74 and 67 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 82 degrees. We hit a record high of 101 back in 1933.