Good evening! Rain and 32 degrees in City of Albany. There is a north-northeast breeze at 7 mph. The skies will clear Thursday around 4 pm. The rain is cold but things at this point aren’t that icy.  A few minutes ago I switched on the new social media connector, which is working, but it still a bit buggy, causing things to be posted that shouldn’t be. But I think it’s fixed, or so I hope. It’s a Tuesday, hopefully things will be getting better as the week goes on.

Tonight will be icy. Look for rain showers, freezing rain, and sleet before 9pm, then freezing rain between 9pm and midnight, then rain showers and sleet after midnight. Low of 32 degrees at 6pm. 18 degrees above normal. But still cold enough to be slip sliding away. North wind 5 to 8 mph becoming east after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 100%. The good news is that little or no ice accumulation expected. Total nighttime sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 15 degrees with periods of snow. The record low of -19 occurred back in 1957.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 61% illuminated. The moon will rise around 9:11 pm. 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 7:20 am with the first light at 6:49 am, which is 34 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 29 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 1 minutes and 50 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of rain showers, snow showers, and sleet before 7am, then a chance of rain and snow showers between 7am and 10am, then a chance of drizzle after 10am. Cloudy, with a high of 39 degrees at 2pm. Nine degrees above normal. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable. Should melt away a lot of the ice. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had snow and a high of 28 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1973. 7.9 inches of snow fell back in 1891.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap, but relatively warm. Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 41. Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 42.Typical average high for the weekend is 30 degrees.

In four weeks on February 14 the sun will be setting at 5:26 pm, which is 36 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had sunny skies and temperatures between 8 and -13 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 34 and 17 degrees. The record high of 63 degrees was set back in 1946.

Looking ahead, Valentines Day is in 4 weeks, St. Patrick’s Day is in 2 months, Spring is in 9 weeks, Average High is 50 is in 10 weeks, Patriots Day is in 3 months, Tax Day is in 13 weeks, Average High is 70 is in 17 weeks and Independence Day is in 24 weeks.