Swift Wetland Preserve

This 21.6-acre wetland in Delmar, located directly across Delaware Avenue from the Bethlehem Central High School sports field, was a gift from the Swift Group. The Preserve was created to protect the wetlands remaining after homes were constructed on neighboring parcels. It includes a 1-acre man-made wetland, built to help compensate for natural wetlands that were filled in. The Bethlehem Central High School Science Department used a grant administered by the Conservancy to integrate the wetland into the school’s earth science and biology curriculums as an outdoor classroom. The Swift has several trails built by Chris Joyce as his Eagle Scout project for a local Boy Scout troop. Local volunteers, with funds donated by The Friendship Singers, built the kiosk at the Preserve’s entrance.

http://www.mohawkhudson.org/preserves/Swift.htm

Cattails

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Cattails blowing in the wind at the suburban Swift Preserve in Delmar.

January 16, 2017 7 AM Update

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Good morning! Happy Martin Luther King Day. A chilly but seasonable start to our holiday with clear skies. Around 23 degrees in Delmar. Calm wind.

Today, M. L. King Day, will be sunny, with a high of 37 degrees at 2pm. Seven degrees above normal. South wind 3 to 6 mph. Going to be a nice day. A year ago, we had rain, snow and a high of 40 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1995. 15.1 inches of snow fell back in 1945.

Feeling better this morning. I’m up and going, making some coffee and breakfast. I’m probably going to stop at the library for a bit then will go out hiking somewhere local this afternoon. Still chewing over where, probably not too far away, probably not the Catskills. 

The sun will set at 4:49 pm with dusk around 5:20 pm, which is 1 minutes and 12 seconds later than yesterday. Today  will have 9 hours and 29 minutes of daylight, an increase of 1 minute and 47 seconds over today.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 25 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees above normal. Light and variable wind. In 2016, it got down to 28 degrees with periods of snow. The record low of -23 occurred back in 1971.

Friday is the Donald Trump inauguration. No more blaming Obama for how bad the weather is, it’s Trump’s country now. So you know who to blame for the freezing rain we might get Tuesday.  The man will be the first president from New York in more than 70 years. He certainly will make checking Twitter more interesting every morning. 

Looking ahead to the next state holiday, there are 5 weeks until Presidents Day when the sun will be setting at 5:34 pm with dusk at 6:03 pm. On that day in 2016, we had rain, snow and temperatures between 62 and 35 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 1930.