Seasons
NPR
Outside Christopher Glenn's house in the small Oregon community of Melrose, a white metal box sits next to the garage. The home standby generator was installed after a long outage in 2019.
"We had a major snowstorm that brought about 3 feet of snow to our backyard, and we were without electricity for approximately a week," says Glenn.
Seven weeks until Spring – Sunday March 21st at 11:34 AM 🌸
Seven weeks until Spring – Sunday March 21st at 11:34 AM 🌸
Of course that is more of a cruel joke then anything else in Upstate NY. Spring doesn’t usually arrive until May, especially up in the high country. But at least as we approach the first day of calendar spring, the average high temperature increases, even in cold winters.
Snow doesn’t last as long, the solar radiation is much greater on sunny days as the sun elevation approaches then exceeds 45 degrees in the noon-time sun. After all, on the first day of spring, at solar noon-time (around 1 PM), the sun angle should equal your elevation in northern hemisphere. And the days will be much longer, especially in the evening when we set our clocks ahead one hour in six weeks.
Part 1 – Early Spring
Weather Data Project
Terra – January 21, 2022
Cold, snowy scene here.
Hochul will replace de Blasio for Groundhog Day dutiesPOLITICOSearchSearchClose
With Mayor Bill de Blasio off to stump for Hillary Clinton in Iowa, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to replace him for the annual Groundhog Day ceremony at the Staten Island Zoo, sources told POLITICO New York.
The annual morning event is a New York version of the famous shadow check done by Punxsutawney Phil, the famous Pennsylvania varmint. At 7:30 a.m., the zoo's famous groundhog Staten Island Chuck will emerge to see if he (or she) sees his shadow, superstitiously predicting either an early spring or six more weeks of winter drudgery.
The mayor, by tradition, presides, but what should be a harmless photo-op actually became a to-do for de Blasio. In 2014 — his first year in office — the mayor dropped the groundhog, causing internal injuries that led to her death. In 2015 the ceremony was amended so the mayor would not actually touch the animal.