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

January 15, 2017 Night

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Good evening! Mostly clear and 25 degrees in Delmar. There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. Not a terrible evening and if I was feeling better I might have very well gone camping. 

I did go for a short walk around Swift Preserve just around the corner from my apartment but I’ve mostly been taking it easy today with the sinus infection. That said the medication worked well but I was in no rush to get sicker, especially when nicer weather for camping will be here in another two months most likely. 

Did some cleaning around and housekeeping code for the blog, as I want to clean up the categories among other things on the blog. It’s good to get rid of outdated code and content. Keeps me busy in the cold of winter. 

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 18 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2016, it got down to 29 degrees with periods of rain and snow. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1971.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 75% illuminated. The Last Quarter Moon is on Thursday night with mostly cloudy skies expected. The Full “Snow” Moon is on Saturday, February 11th. The sun will rise at 7:22 am with the first light at 6:51 am, which is 29 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 33 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 1 minutes and 44 seconds over last night.

M. L. King Day tomorrow will be sunny, with a high of 37 degrees at 1pm. Seven degrees above normal. South wind 3 to 6 mph. 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.

I’ll see how I feel tomorrow but I’ll probably go hiking somewhere. Not getting up at the crack of dawn but as long as I’m not dead in the morning, I want to hike somewhere fun, even if it just means a local preserve. They are many nice ones to explore. 

In four weeks on February 12 the sun will be setting at 5:24 pm, which is 36 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 24 and 3 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 34 and 17 degrees. The record high of 55 degrees was set back in 1932.

Looking ahead, My 34th Birthday is in 2 weeks, Daylight Savings Time is in 8 weeks, Ides of March is in 2 months, Palm Sunday is in 12 weeks, Easter is in 13 weeks, Mother’s Day is in 17 weeks and Father’s Day is in 22 weeks.