Westerlo

June 26, 2016 10 PM Update

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Good evening! Partly cloudy and 80 degrees in Westerlo. There is a south breeze at 12 mph. The dew point is 58 degrees. The humidity is creeping up a bit but despite the warmth, fairly dry.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low around 63. Three degrees above normal. South wind 7 to 9 mph. The record low of 45 occured back in 1970.

Tonight we have a Waning Gibbous Moon with 60% illuminated. The moon will rise around 11:51 pm. July’s Buck Moon is on Tuesday, July 19th.

Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:21 am with the first light at 4:46 am, which is 26 seconds later then today.

Monday will have increasing clouds, with a high near 83. Two degrees above normal. South wind 8 to 11 mph. The record high of 97 was set in 1941.

Looking ahead, September 11th is in 11 weeks and Christmas is in 26 weeks.

The other day I was bragging about how nice and cold the air conditioning is in my truck. In the hot weather today driving back I noticed I was getting cool air – and after 20 minutes uncomfortably cool air but not frigid at any point of operation like the air should be. I located the R134a recharge port and I need to decide if I’ll go to Walmart buy a recharge tool for $20 and buy some refrigerant or if I should take it to the shop. The air conditioning is working okay but I think it’s underperforming somewhat on these 90 degrees days. My truck is nearly five years old, and the system might just need a recharge to get maximum cold air out of it. I can live with the system now, but I want to ensure the air conditioning continues to work at peak performance.

Still not a lot of rain in the forecast but a chance of thunderstorms and scattered showers that might help all the poor farmers with wilting corn in the V3 stage and with the increasing wild fire risk…

Monday Night. Scattered T-storms then Scattered Showers and 62 degrees.
Tuesday. Scattered Showers then Showers is likely and 78 degrees.
Tuesday Night. Chance of T-storms then Scattered Showers and 57 degrees.
Wednesday. Isolated Showers then Mostly Sunny and 77 degrees.
Wednesday Night. Partly Cloudy and 54 degrees.
Thursday. Sunny and 85 degrees.
Thursday Night. Mostly Clear and 56 degrees.

Hot and stormy on Friday and more seasonable once the holiday weekend gets under way.

Friday. Chance of T-storms and 87 degrees.
Friday Night. Chance of Showers and 60 degrees.
Saturday. Chance of Showers and 82 degrees.

June 20, 2016 Morning

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Good morning! First Day of Summer. Partly cloudy and 65 degrees in Delmar. There is a south breeze at 9 mph. The dew point is 56.

Going to be a warm for the longest day of the year. Today will be sunny, with a high near 90. 11 degrees above normal. South wind 5 to 10 mph. The record high of 97 was set in 1953.

June 19, 2016 Afternoon

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Good afternoon! Partly cloudy and 85 degrees in Westerlo. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. The dew point is 56.

This afternoon will be sunny, with a high near 87. Eight degrees above normal. Light and variable wind. The record high of 94 was set in 1995.

Tonight the sun will set at 8:36 pm with dusk around 9:11 pm, which is 15 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 15 hours and 18 minutes of daylight, an increase of 4 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low around 61. Three degrees above normal. South wind around 7 mph. The record low of 43 occured back in 1918.

There are 12 weeks until September 11th when the sun will be setting at 7:11 pm with dusk at 7:39 pm. The average high temperature is 74 degrees, with a record high of 98 in 1931.

May 30, 2016 Night

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Kind of a muggy but not super hot evening and a with a temperature around 70 degrees and a dew point around 66. Mostly cloudy and damp. The good news is tomorrow the dew point is expected to drop into the mid 50s and will be quite nice despite mercury expecting to top out at 80 degrees under sunny skies.

Lost power for an hour or two in Delmar while I was at my parent’s house for our annual Memorial Day BBQ. It unfortunately poured while my dad was working on the grill. The only way I know power was out in Delmar was I heard the refrigerator compressor working non-stop to get things colder, and that the ice I had reforming from the camping trip was only partially frozen when I got home. I kept a gallon of ice in there when I left for camp but the rest of four gallons of the ice came with me and kept my food cold. I make ice in old milk jugs. I use them until they crack (two or three times). Like most things in my cheap, shitty apartment in the suburbs, the frigid is on its last legs.

It was a nice weekend but much too short. Usually I extend my Memorial Day Weekend by a few days but that didn’t happen this year because past Memorial Day Weekends have sucked with black flies, cold and rain. Plus I’ve been busy with work. Spent a lot of time hanging out at camp and tanning in the sun, soaking up the rays and swimming in Grout Pond. Brought my kayak but never used it. Without a Vermont fishing license I didn’t really feel like exploring the pond I had only seen a few years ago. Swimming in the lake, it was pretty cool to watch the schools of yellow perch swim by in the crystal clear water.

I have other thoughts but they’ll wait until tomorrow as I’m tired. Enjoy some of the photos I’ve just posted of the past weekend.

May 15, 2016 Night

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Good evening folks. 42 degrees and mostly cloudy. At times the wind is gusting up 24 degrees but for the most part it’s a pretty light breeze. Tonight isolated showers and a low around 36, which is 11 degrees below normal for the first day of the second half of May.

Dawn tomorrow at 4:59 am. That’s so darn early, I pulled down my window shades hoping not to wake early. I may also want to buy another window shade for the small side window to increase darkness. Partly sunny in the morning with mostly sunny conditions by afternoon. Breezy and 58 degrees tomorrow. 12 degrees below normal, which is 70 for May 16th. The record low for tonight is 33 degrees set back in 1980.

Rain is possible for Tuesday. But sun and temperatures in the 70s for the second half of the week into the weekend. Should be nice. I’m thinking about heading up to the Adirondacks for the weekend, possibly Stewart Landing or Hope Falls Road. If it’s warm and I go to Stewart Landing, I’ll bring the kayak. I heard that the black flies are really bad up north this year with the wet spring. Still leaning towards Kelly Stand in Vermont for Memorial Day Weekend. Maybe Moose River Plains for Independence Day Weekend.

Bought a new showers curtain liner. I usually just get those clear non-pvc $5 ones at Walmart. I like clear because it lets in more light when showering. I don’t use a curtain besides the liner as privacy is not an issue in my tiny bathroom. I had to replace the old one because it had accumulated so much soap scum and probably mildew that every time I opened and closed it, caked on crap would fall off and was clogging the hair stopper on the drain. I got five years out of the old one, and it’s a non-toxic plastic which is good.

Went out for my evening walk. Not so cold but the wind mostly died down for the hike. Certainly too cold to sit out back. The second half of the week will be much nicer.

At the Lupine Festival they had a brush truck with a PA horn on it and were letting the kids play with it. With my CB radio I have a jack for that, and I think I could have a lot of fun joking around with it. I’ve not done it yet because hooking up an amplifier for the PA can be somewhat complicated as it requires a power supply and more than the few bucks I’m willing to spend on it. My max budget really is under $50, which doesn’t go far these days. I think I’ll get an unamplified horn and if I decide I need an amplifier later on, I’ll just add it in the cab of my truck. We’ll see. I’m thinking of stopping by Pilot Truck stop on the way up to the Adirondacks on Friday and checking out what they have there for PA speakers and amplifiers. I know they have all kinds of CB and truck equipment there. It would be fun to yell at friends from the cab of my truck.

Good night. It’s 11 o’clock and Monday morning is rapidly approaching.

March 6, 2016 Evening

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Good evening! Currently mostly clear and 42 degrees with a 10 mph north wind. The wind chill value is currently 36. Honestly, it’s not too bad of an evening. Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low around 25. South wind 3 to 6 mph. That’s about 3 degrees above normal. The record low of -6 degrees was set back in 1950. It could be a lot colder.

Decent sunset to close out the weekend. Now we have 12 hours and 26 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over last night. If you get up early, you will be able to see the Waning Crescent Moon with 15% illuminated. It will rise at 4:30 am. The New Moon is on Wednesday. One week from now, it’s day light savings time, and it now will be around sunset, aka 7 PM. That’s pretty nice. Now if that weather is nice, I’ll be able to go to the park after work.

Monday will be partly sunny, with a high near 54. South wind 7 to 11 mph becoming west in the afternoon. That’s about 13 degrees above normal. I guess this means the spring thaw is upon us. But it’s far below the record high of 62 degrees, set back in 1974.

While Sunday March 20th is the first day of spring, Thursday March 17th will have close to equal darkness and daylight, as sun is refracted against the atmosphere, making the days appear slightly longer then what the calendar would suggest. The first day of spring actually has 12 hours and 10 minutes of daylight, and a sunset at 7:09 PM.

Today I went grocery shopping and bought some needed supplies. Checked the oil and other levels in the car, all were fine, topped off the windshield washer fluid. Truck started up easily after 7 days parked, with the warm weather and the new, quality battery. Cleaned up the kitchen.

I also went up to Cole Hill State Forest in Berne, hiking around there for a bit with my GPS, trying to find good places to tent camp. I came up with 5 potential locations for making backcountry campsites, with the goal of being within a short walk from parking, but also in a quiet, isolated location more then 150 feet (or 0.03 miles) from road or trail. I found one campsite with an existing fire pit I really liked, but I want to let the ground dry up and grass turn green before I spend a night out there. I saw another strong possibility, and the other three where were just so-so. Took some pictures, will post them on the blog later.

This summer I’m thinking of doing more tent camping, and staying local, now that I have good working lanterns and figured out who do to the candle thing in a nice way. My phone and bluetooth speaker plays music in the woods without any electricity. Those long drives to the Adirondacks tend to get long, and there are many delightful little places to go locally. Most of the campsites I studied were just a short walk from parking, so I could bring the big table back and even the 20-lb propane tank if I wanted plenty of energy for light and cooking.

Don’t be sad the weekend is coming to a conclusion. A new one is just five days away!

February 7, 2016 Evening

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Good evening. Currently partly cloudy and 43 degrees in Westerlo. Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low around 27. Northeast wind 3 to 6 mph.

Tonight we will have a Waining Crescent Moon with 2% illuminated. It will rise at 6:46 am.

Monday will be a chance of snow after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. Northeast wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

The days are getting longer. In two weeks the sun will be setting at 5:35 pm, which is 18 minutes later then today. The sunset in four weeks on Mar. 6 is at 5:52 pm. Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 13 is 1 month, 6 days away. Sunset on that day is at 7:01 pm.