March 15, 2020 Night

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Good evening! Clear and 31 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌌 There is a north breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 11 am. 🌡️ Beautiful day followed by a nice evening walk, although one filled with much concern as the Coronavirus crisis deepen.

Had a nice hike up Bennett Hill but it was crowded. 👪 14 cars in the parking 🅿 area, a lot of bored families looking for something to do with all activities and events canceled. ⛔ I had a nice Saint Patrick’s Day dinner with the folks 🍀and went for my evening walk. Started out the day at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 17 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 16th. North wind around 6 mph. Cold night ahead, the heat is back on. ♨ In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of 4 occurred back in 1980.

Tonight will have a Last Quarter 🌗 Moon with 54% illuminated. The Blue 🌝 Moon is on Monday, March 30. The darkest hour is at 1:05 am, followed by dawn at 6:39 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:08 am in the east (92°) and last for 2 minutes and 53 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 44 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:45 am with sun in the east (98°). Tonight will have 12 hours and one minute of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 56 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 44 degrees at 5pm. Typical for tomorrow. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. All and all a pretty decent day. A year ago, we had rain in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 46 degrees. The record high of 82 was set in 1990. 13.4 inches of snow fell back in 1956.❄

At one level the media hysteria is well overblown 📺 but all the evidence points to the virus 👾burning through the human population, taking a great deal of the sick and elderly 👴 with it. I’ve been skeptical about the efforts to slow the rampaging virus down by shutting down most of the societal institutions but truth be told, it rather frightening. Regardless it’s kind of frightening times and things might be very different when it’s all over.

In four weeks on April 12 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (283°) at 7:34 pm,🌄 which is 32 minutes and 6 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 60 and 40 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 57 and 36 degrees. The record high of 84 degrees was set back in 1977.

Looking ahead, Palm Sunday 🌴 is in 3 weeks, Tax Day 💰 is a month away, Easter 🐰 is in 4 weeks, Mothers Day 👩‍ is in 8 weeks, Pack Rat Day 🐀 is in 9 weeks, Strawberry Moon 🌕 is in 12 weeks and Fathers Day 👨 is in 13 weeks.

🇺🇸🦅Only 67 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸

Center Square And Beyond

Flattening The Pandemic’s Curve’

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Why Staying Home Saves Lives: Flattening The Pandemic’s Curve’

As the coronavirus continues to spread in the U.S., more and more businesses are sending employees off to work from home. Public schools are closing, universities are holding classes online, major events are getting canceled, and cultural institutions are shutting their doors. Even Disney World and Disneyland are set to close. The disruption of daily life for many Americans is real and significant — but so are the potential life-saving benefits.

It's all part of an effort to do what epidemiologists call flattening the curve of the pandemic. The idea is to increase social distancing in order to slow the spread of the virus, so that you don't get a huge spike in the number of people getting sick all at once. If that were to happen, there wouldn't be enough hospital beds or mechanical ventilators for everyone who needs them, and the U.S. hospital system would be overwhelmed. That's already happening in Italy.

March 15, 2020 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Ides of March ✝! Three weeks to Palm Sunday 🌴. Mostly sunny and 33 degrees at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. There is a north breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 8 pm. ☃️

Out for a walk this morning in the Pine Bush 🚶 and hope to meet some people later in the day. Really pretty morning, so much blue sky. 🌲🌲🌲Maybe later go to Thacher Park or maybe just Bennett Hill depending on the weather.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 45 degrees at 4pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 17th. North wind around 8 mph. A year ago, we had rain in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 72 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 2019. 10.4 inches of snow fell back in 1916.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 45.4° from the due south horizon (-25.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:25 pm with the sun in the west (262°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (268°) starting at 7:00 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:30 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:04 pm. It’s nice having the extra hour in the evening. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 37 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 56 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 16 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 10th. North wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of 4 occurred back in 1980. I Going to be chilly tonight, gonna have to turn the heat on before bed.

Today in 44 BC, Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus, and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March. Plus don’t forget that song Vehicle by the Ides of March. Good song for friendly stranger in black sedans. 🚙 Nowadays they’d probably be SUVs with big speakers.

I wasn’t so freaked out about the media crap over Coronavirus 😷 but increasingly I am concerned after hearing about it on the Skeptics Guide to the Universe 🌌. The truth is that there ain’t a lot to do besides wash one’s hands 👐 good and pray 🙏. Social distancing might help but I’m skeptical – how much time ⌚ will it buy? Is it worth the high economic and social costs? I guess only time will tell. The whole situation is both abursd and kind of frightening. 👾

🌹🌻🌼Only 4 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Palm Sunday 🌴 when the sun will be setting at 7:26 pm with dusk at 7:55 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 42 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 54 degrees. We hit a record high of 82 back in 1928.

Tongue Mountain Range and Lake George Wild Forest