The town’s largest park is located on Elm Avenue, one-fourth mile south of the Delmar bypass (Route 32). The park includes a pool complex, tennis and basketball courts, pavilions, fitness trail, playing fields, volleyball courts, shuffleboard, a dog park, and a playground. The basketball courts and four tennis courts are lit at night beginning in late May until late October. Winter facilities include a large ice skating rink, sledding hill, cross country skiing, and an area for snowmobiling.
After getting the new version of the blog up, I managed to break it. It worked perfectly for a while, but then I noticed my internal weather webpages weren’t working, in an enabling them I broke everything else. But now it’s up and working again — along with a half dozen other bug fixes and improvements I implemented this evening.
In case you aren’t on the blog, check out the fresh, very quick loading blog at andyarthur.org. It puts the stuff that 90% of people come for the blog up top. No links were broken, and actually, it automatically fixes a lot of mistyped and old URLs to the proper one with the updated code.
Currently as my internal weather station on the blog says, it’s 60 degrees and mostly cloudy down at the town park. Some blue skies up there in between the big rain clouds, but still pretty cloudy. Midday we had quite a bit of sun, but not so much now. The wind is picking up this evening and by late night it will be quite blustery. Now Mother’s Day doesn’t look as nice weather-wise but the work week looks quite warm and sunny. Not hot but typical warmth for the second week of May.
Good evening! There was no weather report this morning, because I was recovering from a crazy week at work. It was a pretty cloudy morning, but this evening has really cleared out with a modest breeze and temperatures around 52 degrees in Delmar. Mostly clear as I sit down at the town park listening to the birds. Sunset tonight is at 7:23 PM with darkness around 7:53 PM. At times the breeze is a bit cool, but all and all a pretty nice evening in the park. Waning Crescent Moon with about 30% visible after 2:42, although I suspect the clouds and snow will block views of the moon.
We expect some pretty big changes in the weather come tonight. Sometime after midnight, we are expecting it to snow, leaving about 2-3 inches of snow on the ground in the morning. Tonight won’t be super cold, but it will be a few degrees below average with temperatures expecting to drop to around 30 degrees. It may start out as rain but will turn to snow. It’s not clear how much will stick to pavement, and indeed the ground may be warm enough that a lot won’t accumulate, at least to start out. Tomorrow will be frigid with temperatures expected to only reach 35 degrees. In early April, a typical night only reaches 32 degrees for the low, and the high is typically 53 degrees.
Possibly more snow for late Sunday night into early Monday morning. We could have a brief period of slippery roads early Monday with plenty of the root of all evil road salt. We are looking at about 3 inches of snow on Monday, the bulk of it coming in the day time. The low Sunday will be 23 degrees, which is only 7 degrees above the record low of 16 degrees set back in 1954. The snow won’t last or be a persistent hazard on the roads, as temperatures will reach 37 degrees on Monday — 16 degrees below normal, but still warm enough to melt snow even without deicing.
The cold blast that we are getting starting tonight will be with us at least through Friday, with the average temperature 10-20 degrees below normal, especially during the day. Many nights will be cold, but the night time temperatures will moderate by the second half of the week. You’ll need your heat on for at least another week, but at least most of the winter has been fairly moderate.
Down at the Elm Ave Park for the first time after work this year. We are just beyond sunset but there is still a fair amount of light. Currently partly clear and 56 degrees but with a bit of wind. Grass is starting to green up.
Good Happy Thursday morning to you all! In my best Cam Edwards impression. It is currently sunny and 22 degrees in Delmar. With the windchill, it feels like about 10 degrees, but the bright and sunny conditions really make up for the cold.
Today is going to be a real nice one, except maybe for the breeze. It will be sunny, with a high near 28. Northwest wind 11 to 15 mph. Maybe not summer like, but oh are those blue skies delightful this morning.
There are 2 months, 7 days until Arbor Day. Spring may be a ways off, but it sure seems spring like this morning, if you are properly dressed that is. If you can’t tell, I’m psyched about the blue skies.
Took the express bus downtown this morning. I know usually don’t get up early enough to catch the 8:26 downtown from the Park and Ride, but this morning I was up and it was bright and sunny. I got an early start and started walking the 9/10th mile down to the Park and Ride. Certainly the express bus route is much more scenic and seems like a smoother commute. I may not need to get to work so early, but it does mean I get a jump on the day.
Today in 1970, the Chicago Seven were acquitted of charges relating to a conspiracy to disrupt the 1968 Democratic Convention. It’s going to be a very interesting year politically, although hopefully not as violent and otherwise awful as 1968.
Good morning. Happy Monday. Five day work week coming up this morning. Chilly, around 16 degrees and mostly cloudy to the north with some sun to the south. A few flurries on and off but no accumulation. So be it, January weather is hear. But it won’t last with a warm up expected by the end of the week.
Kind of a chilly morning with the wind but I didn’t notice it much as I left the heat at 60 before bed, wore my wool overcoat, and races down to the bus stop, catching the bus with seconds to spare. I should make an effort to get to the bus stop a little earlier.
So it’s January. Great, we are working are way to spring time. I’ve been through a lot of winters before and while they are a grind, they always come to a conclusion. Winter’s fury can only last for so long before it succumbs to the changing angle of the sun. Every day we will be getting increased solar radiation with the changing seasons.
Good evening. Now we are down to 35 degrees but no snow. Some good gusts of wind. Later on, temperatures will drop rapidly and by sunrise looking at 19 or 20 degrees. Sunny tomorrow constant temperature around 20. Sunrise at 7:26 AM with 9 hours and 8 minutes of sun. Gaining daylight slowly, mostly in the evening.
Pretty nice evening walk. Went earlier then usual, hoping to avoid the cold which hasn’t happened yet. Nice evening but cloudy.
Started to write code for a bulk American Community Survey mapper that will allow me to make many census maps easier, similar to the political mapping tool I wrote earlier in the week. One change I made in both tools is using CSV files as an alternative to dBase files. I think it’s better to use CSV as they are smaller and more future compatible. dBase format will remain around for a while, if only because ERSI Shapefiles use the format natively for storing data – which is why I was using it at first. Plan to code into both scripts and add to the blog a crunched number feature, that will not only show the map with ED or block group statistics but also detailed statistics broken down by town, ward, and/or tract. Cool stuff but it will require a fair amount of coding. But it’s winter and I have the free time.
Good evening! Currently 37 degrees and cloudy this evening. It cleared out for a while this evening before dusk, but the clouds have returned with the approaching front. We are expecting some snow showers later this evening that might make the roads slippery.
Tomorrow starts the new work week for the new year. Five day work-week. January seems to have come so quickly, without the harsh weather we’ve gotten use to. Tomorrow is going to be cold, with temperatures around 20 degrees all day. A stiff breeze will make windchills appear below zero, but the mercury will be at least in the positive single digits. It will feel cold though. Not as cold as late February and early March last year, with temperatures in the morning in the negative 10 degree range. Last year was so bitterly cold, but we might once again get some of that cold, but not this week.
Did you notice how late the sunset was tonight? Or more properly, how late darkness came once civil twilight came to an end? Civil twilight tonight was at 5:06 PM, so when you get out of work at 5 PM, it won’t be totally dark out. That’s nice. Sunset is at 4:34 PM in Albany, and even later in later parts of the state. Not having clouds dominating the sky sure made it seem like the day was a lot longer today. With the colder weather of Monday and Tuesday plus the clear weather expected through Thursday, nicer days and later sunsets will be the norm. I’m sure glad for that.
Where did the time go? It seems like it just wasn’t early fall. Certainly it can’t be 2016 already. Then ago the lack of snow plus that Big Buddy Heater I’ve been able to camp until last week – and I’ll be camping next weekend or the weekend after, once my truck is back from repair and the weather is not too cold or snowy. It will be like a winter without winter, which is kind of nice. Granted, I can’t get back far in the Adirondacks from a plowed state highway but I still can spend nights in the wilderness, toasty by the Big Buddy and with bright light with my lantern. Local wilderness camping or in a lean-to is a possibility too – I have my mind on a particular spot in the woods where I want to set up camp. Spring will approach quickly. My winters are usually quickly consumed by the long days I put in at work. Four weeks and we’ll be in the first weekend of February. Eight weeks the time changes. But for sure, in the mean-time we will have some snowy and cold weather, even if El Nino keeps us relatively warm for most of the winter.
Pretty quiet day, although I did make some maps up in QGIS. I had a problem in QGIS that took a while to diagnosis – somehow I had a layer that was malfunctioning, but now it working correctly. I cranked out a batch of maps, including Google Maps of most of the competitive races in the County Legislature. At this point, I’m pretty much done with mapping Election Results at least until after primary day – although maybe I could get some of the old LATFOR data from 2008 and so an interactive primary map comparing Hillary Clinton versus Barack Obama. I think the next time I’m down at the library, I will have to get some more census data, although honestly on that front of running a bit thin on data to map too. Maybe some historical data might be interesting.
In the afternoon, I almost wish I had gone down to the park rather then the library, it was so nice. But whatever. Nicer days will certainly come, once we get past the coldest week of the year – typically next week. I do look forward to going to the park with a book from the library and reading to dusk or beyond. Or even just bringing my laptop down there, and playing on the WI-FI. Library Internet is fine, but I sure prefer to be outside when it’s nice. I wonder if they’ll even operate the ice rink at the town park this year, with the weather being so mild all winter. Below freezing temperatures are bound to come. This is Albany and winter, after all.
After this mild winter, it means there will likely be some hot and toasty summer days. I can feel the potholers already on a 90 degree day. I sure love those waterfalls on a hot day, and camping up by the East Canada Creek in the summer. It really is my home away form home. Summer nights are really quite wonderful, even if they last such a short time. It really can’t be a hot enough day for time in the potholers, although an extended drought I guess could really sap those waterfalls compared to more normal water conditions. I am also looking forward to heading out to the Finger Lakes for summer vacation, with hot days going in out of the pool at Watkins Glen. 2015 was an amazing year, and I hope to build upon it this year.
Have a great evening! I’m off for my evening walk.
