March 19, 2017 Night

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Good evening! I thought it was a good final day of winter, going on the Pine Bush Hike that we ended up doing at Thacher Park. Beautiful day for skiing for sure. Now, clear and 30 degrees in Delmar. There is a north breeze at 8 mph. I will post more pictures and videos from the trip tomorrow. I also have lots of new graphs, charts, maps for tomorrow. 

Tonight will be clear, with a low of 18 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 8 at 6am; Northwest wind around 8 mph. In 2016, it got down to 22 degrees under partly cloudy skies. The record low of 2 occurred back in 1967.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 53% illuminated. The moon will rise around 11:51 pm. The Last Quarter Moon will be tomorrow with mostly cloudy then slight chance of snow showers skies expected. The Full “Pink” Moon is on Tuesday, April 11th. The sun will rise at 6:59 am with the first light at 6:30 am, which is one minute and 45 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 11 hours and 49 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have increasing clouds, with a high of 41 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees below normal. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies and a high of 41 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 2012. 7 inches of snow fell back in 1944.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend with Sunday being best. Saturday, a chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, a chance of snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 40. Chance of precipitation is 30%.Typical average high for the weekend is 48 degrees.

In four weeks on April 16 the sun will be setting at 7:40 pm, which is 32 minutes and 6 seconds later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had partly sunny skies and temperatures between 66 and 35 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 59 and 38 degrees. The record high of 91 degrees was set back in 2012.

Looking ahead, Palm Sunday is in 3 weeks, Easter is in 4 weeks, Average High is 60 is in 1 months, Mother’s Day is in 8 weeks and Father’s Day is in 13 weeks.

Obama’s War on Coal

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One of the saddest parts of Obama’s War on Coal is the retirement of really old coal fired power plants. In 2008, there were 10 operating  coal fired units that cranked out their first electrons between 1920 and 1929, including a unit that first was fired up during Calvin Coolidge’s Presidency in 1921. 

Sadly though as of 2015, only one coal fired generating unit from the roaring twenties is still operational in America. That unit is a 2,500 Kw cogeneration unit at American Eagle Paper Mills in a Blair, Pennsylvania. That unit burns coal, as it has for 88 years to make stream and electricity. 

Back in 2008, five out of ten coal fired generating units were built prior to 1966. Thanks to Barack Obama’s War on Coal, the median age of coal generating units by 2015 was 43 years old. 50% of all coal fired power plants in 2015 were built prior to 1972. A lot of World War II era and 1950s power plants have been retired in the meantime. Kind of sad for those of us who loved those grandfatherly, dirty old plants.  

Pine Bush Ski Trip

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Today on the Albany Pine Bush Ski Trip we ended up going to Thacher Park to go skiing when the trailhead we had originally planned on going on closed in Albany Pine Bush. It was great skiing, especially on the trails packed down by snowmobiles (and there were both a lot of snowmobilers and skiers up there).

Taken on Sunday March 19, 2017 at John Boyd Thacher State Park.

Angela Merkel is now the leader of the free world, not Donald Trump

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Angela Merkel is now the leader of the free world, not Donald Trump

"When Barack Obama revealed that his last phone call as President was to Angela Merkel, reaffirming their alliance and friendship of the last eight years, he wasn’t just saying goodbye. He was handing over his baton. The German Chancellor isn’t just the leader of Europe, she is now the de-facto leader of the free world.

The thrice-elected, soft-spoken former scientist from East Germany, armed with a doctorate in quantum chemistry, doesn’t just carry the weight of Germany and Europe on her shoulders, but that of defending freedom and liberalism across the world.

This is not an attempt to be provocative or exaggerate for effect. Donald Trump cannot claim the mantle of “leading” the free world by default. America’s military might is not the only criteria necessary."

When Does Spring Begin?

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When Does Spring Begin?

"Most people consider the first day of spring to be the Spring Equinox, which will start this year at 6:29 a.m. EDT, March 20th. This is because, astronomically speaking, the sun is directly overhead of the Equator as the Earth`s tilt begins to point the northern hemisphere towards the sun.

As the earth rotates around the Sun, the Sun will be situated directly overhead at mid-day at different times of the year. The Vernal (Spring) Equinox is the day the Sun is again highest in the sky at noon over the equator as the apex progresses north. The day the Sun is straight up at noon over the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn (23.5 degrees N and S latitude) are the summer and winter solstices, respectively.

Many refer to Astronomical Spring on March 20, as the first "official" day of spring. Most meteorologists, except for this year across the East and Midwest, will argue that spring begins a few weeks before, on March 1st.

That`s because meteorologists observe seasons over different time periods. Meteorological spring began March 1, summer begins June 1, fall begins on September 1 and winter begins on December 1."