John Boyd Thacher State Park, is situated along the Helderberg Escarpment, one of the richest fossil-bearing formations in the world. Even as it safeguards six miles of limestone cliff-face, rock-strewn slopes, woodland and open fields, the park provides a marvelous panorama of the Hudson-Mohawk Valleys and the Adirondack and Green Mountains. The park has volleyball courts, playgrounds, ball fields and numerous picnic areas with nine reservable shelters. Interpretive programs are offered year-round, including guided tours of the famous Indian Ladder Trail. There are over 25 additional miles of trails for summer hiking and mountain biking, and winter cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and snowmobiling.
I missed the worse of the most recent heat wave while I was out in the Finger Lakes, although the weekend was still hot but nothing like the mugginess and misery of Albany. But my office is air conditioned and by the evening when I get home it should have cooled down a bit. Hopefully it won’t be so hot when I have to go to the laundromat later tonight. At least it gets dark early now, back east, so that should help make the heat break earlier. Weekend currently looks real nice. I did bring my rain coat today.
Today. Muggy !
Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. Sunny and hot.
Heat index values as high as 99. South wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
94 degrees
,74 max dew point,
8:08 sunset.
Tonight. Muggy !
Scattered showers and thunderstorms before 2am, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5am. Mostly cloudy.
South wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
75 degrees
,72 max dew point,
5:54 sunrise.
Tuesday. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8am, then showers likely between 8am and 11am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 11am. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Partly sunny.
South wind around 7 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
86 degrees
,74 max dew point,
8:07 sunset.
Tuesday Night. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm, then a slight chance of showers between 11pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy.
Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Should be a decent next two days for closing out vacation ⛺
Continued warm it seems into next week but I’ll be back in my air conditioned office 🏢 and knowing that I will have a lot of work to do and will be staying late. But alas summer can’t last forever with Labor Day Weekend three or four weekends away and the heat certain to break sometime before or after that.
Today. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Increasing clouds.
Southwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
87 degrees
,70 max dew point,
8:22
sunset.
Tonight. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9pm. Partly cloudy.
Southwest wind 7 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
71 degrees
,68 max dew point,
6:04
sunrise.
Sunday. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. Mostly sunny.
West wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
88 degrees
,70 max dew point,
8:21
sunset.
Sunday Night. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm, then a chance of showers between 11pm and 2am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2am. Partly cloudy.
South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
70 degrees
,70 max dew point,
6:05
sunrise.
Monday. Feels like …
July 15th.
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8am, then a chance of showers between 8am and 11am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Partly sunny.
West wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
and
84 degrees
,70 max dew point,
8:20
sunset.
Monday Night. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy.
Got to make the most of it as tomorrow at this time I’ll be taking down camp. All good things must end, it wouldn’t be a vacation if it lasted forever.
Partly sunny and 74 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ☀ There is a south-southwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 69 degrees. The muggy weather ends Thursday around 3 am. 😓
Yesterday I spent the bulk of the day paddling along Seneca Lake 🛶 first from the kayak launch up to Hector Falls – about three miles under Hector Cliffs then swam and cooled off in Seneca Lake. 🏊♂️ Then for about two hours thunderstorms ⛈ and rain rolled through and I hung out in my truck with nothing better to do. Then when the rain stopped I paddled to the other side of the lake to the Watkins Glen marina ⛵ and explored a bit of the south and west shore before checking out the Montour Canal which seemed a lot cleaner since the new Watkins Glen sewage treatment plant 🌿 came online.
Going to be a hot one today but breezy 🌬️ so I ended up deciding against going to Taughannock State Park to swim and paddle, instead deciding on the much smaller but still choppy Cayuta Lake in Odessa. 🛶
Figure explore the marshy Cayuta Inlet 🐦 which is good for finding birds and turtles 🐢 and maybe do some catch and release fishing 🎣. Midday maybe hike a little with binoculars from Airport Road at Catharine Creek Marsh Wildlife Management Area and then the Watkins Pool 🏊♂️ and then one last Glen Dairy Bar ice cream 🍦before heading back to camp. 🌭 Go back to camp ⛺ watch the stars ✨ for a while at Foster Pond 🔥 then have a fire to close out the night.
Tomorrow I hope to take down camp ⛺ early and then head to Taughannock State Park. I’ll have my 🛶 with me as I’m heading home from there, so if Cayuga Lake is reasonably calm I’ll paddle it, otherwise I’ll check out the falls and do some swimming before heading home 🏡. Actually I might go to my parents house first for Sunday dinner if they are around and stay over there. Avoid the city 🌆 as long as possible. Depends on the timing but with gas prices ⛽ I will probably take the most direct route home.
It seems likely that the heat wave will continue throughout much of August based on predictions of above average temperatures much of August. But don’t worry, autumn is still coming.
So it would seem. The crowds return tonight and tomorrow then Sunday I pack up and head home. Today and even tomorrow could be stormy but I hope not. A
Today. Feels like …
August 14th.
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. Partly sunny.
Light west wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
82 degrees
,70 max dew point,
8:24
sunset.
Tonight. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy.
Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
68 degrees
,70 max dew point,
6:03
sunrise.
Saturday. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2pm. Mostly sunny.
Southwest wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
88 degrees
,70 max dew point,
8:22
sunset.
Saturday Night. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm. Mostly clear.
South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
and
71 degrees
,69 max dew point,
6:04
sunrise.
Sunday. Muggy !
A slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Sunny.
West wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
and
89 degrees
,70 max dew point,
8:21
sunset.
Sunday Night. Muggy !
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 2am. Partly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 30%.
and
73 degrees
,70 max dew point,
6:05
sunrise.
Monday. Muggy !
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly after 2pm. Mostly sunny.
Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
90 degrees
,71 max dew point,
8:20
sunset.
Monday Night. Muggy !
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
69 degrees
,68 max dew point,
6:06
sunrise.
Tuesday. Feels like …
September 8th.
A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Partly sunny.
Chance of precipitation is 60%.
and
77 degrees
,66 max dew point,
8:18
sunset.
Tuesday Night. Feels like …
July 31st.
Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of showers between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy.
How fast summer vacation comes and goes. Some of it is the more relaxed pace this year. Some of it just is time is going by faster as I get older.
Partly cloudy and 72 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ⛅ Calm wind. The dew point is 69 degrees. The skies will clear around 9 am.
So yesterday I decided to head to Watkins Glen before the thunderstorms came. ⛈ They arrived, just a few crackles of thunder and the pool was closed. Looked at the radar, the only a few small thunder cells, figured they’d pass by shortly.
Decided in the meantime to hike the Finger Lakes Trail. ☔ The thunder and rain picked up and I hurried to an old CCC built picnic pavilion. Pretty crazy thunderstorm that kind of popped out from nowhere though this 90 year old picnic pavilion is a very substantial structure, super heavy built out of massive timber beams.
With the rain and thunderstorms here never got much above eighty. 🌡️But based on the frying pan on the table we got half and inch of rain after about 3 hours of rain and thunder this afternoon. Spent like two of them hiding out in the Punch Bowl Shelter on the Finger Lakes Trail. It was wet for a while, ended up completely soaked walking back after two hours of sheltering from the loud, repeated cracks of thunder and driving rain. Hiked through the gorge there after 🚶 and it was fairly empty but damp.
I wanted to go to the pool 🏊♂️ but by 5 pm it’s opening seemed unlikely. I had some work stuff to do and I wanted to figure out the plotKML library so I went down to the Watkins Glen library. 📊 I hung out there until about ten minutes before closing and then decided to skip ice cream and head back to camp. ⛺
This morning I’m thinking about bringing my kayak 🛶 down to Watkins Glen and doing some paddling on Seneca Lake. I’ve noticed in the morning it’s often the calmest, if not I can explore the Bad Indian Swamp with the kayak. I’ll probably leave it on my truck for the remainder of the week, paddling Taughannock and Cayuga Lake tomorrow. 🏊♂️ Hope to get some swimming in later at the state park, depends on how stormy it gets later.
