Twenty weeks from now — Friday, June 21, 2019 — it will be the first day of summer.
On the first day of summer, the average high temperature in Albany is 79 degrees with dusk not occurring until 9:11 PM.
As I described this day in 2018:
“Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! It’s the overdrive of the week, and a beautiful day. I’m ready to head up to the Adirondacks after work. 🌄Five weeks to Average High Falls To 79 Degrees ⛱. Sunny and 73 degrees in Delmar. 🌞 Calm wind. The dew point is 58 degrees. Going to be a really nice day.”
As I described this day in 2017:
“Good evening! Partly clear and 74 degrees in City of Albany. There is a west-northwest breeze at 13 mph. The dew point is 52 degrees. Such a nice evening, but I’m stuck at work. I went for a walk in the Empire State Plaza for a while — and took some pictures. Hopefully tonight will be the last for the late nights at work for a while. But only god and may four other men in a room know. “
As I described this day in 2016:
“Good morning! This Tuesday is the second day of summer. Mostly sunny and 69 degrees in Delmar. There is a west breeze at 13 mph. The dew point is a comfortable 51. Deep blue skies to the west but some clouds to the east. A pretty nice day is on tap. It will be sunny, with a high near 80. One degree above normal. West wind 11 to 13 mph. A bit breezy but hard to complain. The record high of 97 was set in 1938.”
As the temperature pushes ninety degrees in my bedroom,♨ I’m still content with my decision not to have air conditioning. I know that these days you can buy a window air conditioner for under $200 and it’s unlikely to increase my utility bill more than $20 a month – it’s not a technology I believe in.❄
Sure my truck has air conditioning and that works modestly well, but I don’t think I would necessarily use it if not for the noise reduction and fuel savings it provides. 🚌 I do like the nice cold of the city buses and my office but I also tide them in the day time in the city where the air is stagnant.
I live without air conditioning by avoiding being home during the daytime. That means Monday through Friday being at work, while spending the weekends in the wilderness, traveling, camping and visiting state park pools and swimming holes in the back country.🏊 I don’t get home from work until around six, when the worse of the heat usually has broken. I usually have a quick sandwich or a light fare then walk down to the park, or if it’s really hot, the air conditioned library. Then I will sit out back with a cold drink until around around eleven and usually by then most of the heat has broken.
I think it’s better to spend money on traveling to the wilderness, camping and swimming in ice cold mountain streams, nice evening out back and in the park then paying for the artificial cool! ☢I have a fairly big box fan I use on stuffy nights like this in my bedroom and I’ll have some ice cream or juice before bed, but I figure it’s just better to get used to the heat and enjoy summer.
Eventually I’m thinking of moving to a warmer climate to avoid the snow, ice and road salt. That means even hotter summers. I need to learn to adapt to the heat as I don’t believe in air conditioning 🏡 and it can be expensive and difficult to do in an office grid cabin – although with ample insulation and sufficient storage it’s definitely possible. Even if I don’t move right away, with the climate warming, the more practice I get in embracing the heat today, the less trouble I’ll have tomorrow.☃
Tomorrow is the last day with an average high of 83 degrees.
Friday the average high is 82 degrees, as we start the long but steady decline in average temperatures, which will decline until we reach an average high of 30 during the second week of January.
They call August the dog days of summer.🐶 It’s hard to disagree but in many ways it’s also the time when summer starts to close itself out.🏖
Usually during the end of July I post my classic essay, “Warning Summer is an Endangered Species” because it really is. By the end of July the sun sets before 8:30 PM in Albany, and the hottest days of the year are already passed by. 🌇 Swimming pools close in four weeks and Labor Day Weekend means schools re-open. I often are quite busy with work once September rolls back around. 🌄
Time is an unstoppable force. ⏲ It’s best to embrace every day as soon those great summer days will be gone.
