Good morning! Happy New Years Eve 🎆! It’s true, the worse year ever, as the critics like to say is coming to an end. Onward to 2021! It can’t be worse, right? I don’t know, I thought 2020 was a fun year. Just like bad old New York City. Grimy and awful, but fun. 🏕 Tonight will be 63 nights camping this year. Two weeks to Coldest Week of the Year 🌬. But based on the 8-14 day outlook, that seems unlikely. Rain showers and 35 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a west breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 6 pm. ☃️

Woke up early, excited to be heading north for the NYE. ⬆ Feeling a lot better today, 🤒 the sore throat is gone and maybe the slight congestion on the nose. I am going to stay away from alcohol tonight, and hopefully the cold, dry air won’t trigger the cold to get worse, although I figure if I do feel sicker, I can come home and sleep until January 4th. And then it’s work from home, so if I’m sick as a dog, as long as I don’t sound so sick on the phone, nobody will ever know.

Had a nice breakfast of pancakes and coffee. ☕🥞 I got to take a shower next, and then I want to start loading up the truck. My goal is to be on the road by 9:30-10 AM, stopping in Amsterdam for a few supplies, then north.

Today will have a slight chance of rain and snow showers before 8am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a high of 39 degrees at 11am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 7th. West wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1895. 7.9 inches of snow fell back in 2007.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:59 am with sun having an altitude of 24.3° from the due south horizon (-46.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.3 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 (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:03 pm, which is 50 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:40 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 35 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 10 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 7 minutes of daytime, an increase of 46 seconds over today.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 23 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 12th. Northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light after midnight. In 2019, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1970.

I am getting packed and planning on heading north around 9:30 or 10 AM. 🏔 I am still not convinced that I will stay more then one night, but I’ll bring enough changes of clothes for the weekend. New Years Day is going to be quite nice, but late Saturday into Saturday morning looks like it will be a mix of rain and ice. But I’ll evaluate at this point, and be glad for getting away at least one night. I want to get up there by no later then 12 noon to 1 PM so I have time to drag the gear back from the parking lot to campsite, as I think there will be too much snow to drive to campsite itself, and I certainly don’t want to leave the truck there overnight should it get plowed in.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 😞 Saturday, rain, mainly before noon. High near 43. Southeast wind 7 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Sunday, a chance of snow after 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 31 degrees.