Good morning! Absolutely beautiful Friday morning with the leaves turning and deep blue skies. Off in a little bit to head to Dolly Sods for a nice hike. 🚶 Three weeks to November 🥧. Mostly sunny and 47 degrees at the Monongahela National Forest. There is a east-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃.

I checked ☑ and the fire ban is over ⛔ for the Monongahela National Forest. I am going to have to rearrange camp tonight and gather firewood so I can have a nice fire tonight. I won’t have to worry about moldy cans or accumulating to much garbage, attracting wildlife too which is another benefit of having a fire. 🚮🔥It surprisingly wet 💦 up here, there is water running through the roadside ditches and the ground is damp. A bit of a breeze but I’ll fill my water container so I can drown the fire before bed. They must have repealed it before the holiday weekend, or maybe earlier in the week and the website wasn’t updated. Regardless, Pennsylvania was nice. 👍😁

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 65 degrees at 2pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 4th. Maximum dew point of 48 at 10am. Southeast wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the morning. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. It was sticky. The high last year was 72 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1949. There was a dusting of snow in 1987.❄

The sun will set at 6:45 pm with dusk around 7:12 pm, which is one minute and 31 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 59 degrees. The dew point will be 47 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 29 seconds over today.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 51 degrees at 11pm. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 18th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 6pm. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the evening. In 2018, we had light drizzle in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 45 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1964.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers, mainly between 9am and 4pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 57 degrees at 11am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 22nd. Maximum dew point of 53 at 11am. West wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Not going to be a real great day but if it’s cold and wet I’ll hang out in the tent for a while in the morning and then in the afternoon explore Blackwater State Park and maybe Cannan Valley Refuge, although the later would be better to do early Sunday. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. It was sticky. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 85 was set in 1954. There was a dusting of snow in 1904.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny ☀ , with a high near 58. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Typical average high for the weekend is 61 degrees. Going to be a beautiful day for driving back up through Pennsylvania and visiting Mount Pisgah State Park. Should be great colors there too. 🍁Overnight at County Bridge Pennsylvania and leave before dawn Columbus Day for home 🏡 in Albany.

Already starting to think about November and December trips. I’m not sure if I can get another full week off before the end of the year but I’ll probably take some long weekends off to head to the Adirondacks, hike and hunt. 🔫 I’m also thinking about a trip out to the Finger Lakes National Forest to hot tent again in December – depends on the weather but it was a lot of fun camping for that week in the snow ⛄.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until November 🥧 when the sun will be setting at 6:17 pm with dusk at 6:45 pm. On that day in 2018, we had rain showers, mostly cloudy and temperatures between 59 and 48 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 54 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 1950.