I’ve got some big news to announce. The Christmas Cactus in my office is starting to bud up. I think I may have flowers on it come Christmas or at least before New Years. I’m kind of real excited about that possibility because I’ve been taking care of the plant for a year and those tender beautiful buds produce a lot of color in an otherwise drab winter scene. I like my window view from the skyscraper where I work but it really could use some color. 

This evening is fairly mild, around 38 degrees. Not bad weather all things considered, especially because we are only two days away from Christmas Eve. Maybe not as warm as last year at this time but it sure looks like we have temperatures that are somewhat above average at least through the end of the year. 

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 28 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees above normal. Northwest wind 7 to 11 mph. In 2015, it got down to 41 degrees with periods of fog and rain. The record low of -12 occurred back in 1955.

Waning Crescent Moon tonight with 37% illuminated. The moon will rise around 12:41 am. The New Moon will be tonight with partly cloudy skies expected. 

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, with a high of 41 degrees at 2pm. Eight degrees above normal. Southwest wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had fog, rain and a high of 56 degrees. The record high of 64 was set in 1990. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 1947.

In four weeks on January 19 the sun will be setting at 4:52 pm, which is 27 minutes later then tonight. It’s always remarkable how quickly daylight accelerates after you get past the first day of winter and only accelerates faster come closer to spring time. In 2016 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 23 and 13 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 62 degrees was set back in 1929. Based on the current long-term projections I think we may be warmer then last year but everything can change in a month. 

I am definitely thinking about a Christmas Camping trip but where I go is somewhat up for question. I don’t want too much snow but at the same time I want snow so I can drag the gear back in the woods. It might be fun to camp in the Adirondacks and take a nice drive, do some snowshoeing back to a pond or overlook. Have a nice fire and sleep in a nice toasty tent. But a local state forest might be fun too. I don’t know. I have a couple of days to decide. 

Almost home. Traffic turns out that it wasn’t too bad today and I’m sure tomorrow it will be non existent except for maybe delays around the Thruway ramp. Going to tape and watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas later on. Should be a nice evening.