After a rather misty, wet but mild Christmas Eve the sun is starting to peak through the clouds. It’s good, I decided I’ll stay an extra night as my family’s holiday party was canceled or more like postponed a week due to the cold that is going around. It’s fine, it’s going to be a fairly nice day to enjoy Christmas walking through the woods, enjoying the birds, wildlife and silence.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 37 degrees at the Moscow Hill Camping Area. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Friday around 5 pm. ☃️

I’m enjoying the sun ☀ as it’s peaking through the clouds. My Christmas camping trip has been extended by another night after the family Christmas party was postponed. I’m not that disappointed with the nice weather expected today. Even the breeze will be good as it should help dry things out after the misty and muddy mess that was yesterday.

Christmas Day will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 45 degrees at 2pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 27th. South wind 6 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 27 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1889. 19.2 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄

It should be a great day for Christmas 🤶 even if the snow is largely gone. I haven’t decided if I will ride some of the truck trails or just hike, the horse 🐴 trails are closed to mountain bikes for the season 🚵 but the signs are fairly clear that the hardened roads are fine though might be a bit icy. That said, I can always lock up the bike if I want to head off the truck trails.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 23.8° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:47 pm with the sun in the southwest (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:33 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 26 seconds with dusk around 5:04 pm, which is 37 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-northeast (68°) at an altitude of 17° from the horizon, 240,803 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:41 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 5 minutes of daytime, an increase of 14 seconds over yesterday.

Breakfast is done 🥚 and I’m feeling better after the Charlie Horse I had on my leg earlier in the morning. I might have been dehydrated, I drank a bunch of water. 💦 Gathered firewood for the night 🪵, mostly smaller stuff stacked high in hope the sun and breeze will help to dry things out. Last night the fire 🔥 was really smokey due to the wood being so wet. I actually retired to bed 🛏 on Christmas Eve a little after 8 pm as the fire was struggling and I was just kind of tired. Yesterday’s weather was a bit of a let down.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 34 degrees at 3am. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 9th. South wind 8 to 10 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 16 degrees. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1914.

Looking ahead to New Years Weekend 2024. 🎇 Saturday, a chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 32. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 34. New Years Day, 35 degrees and sunny. Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees.