Good morning! January is almost done. Yes, tomorrow is February. On Friday, the average high is 33 degrees, so it will on average get above freezing. And probably push closer to 40 this year. But wait there is more. Six weeks to Daylight Savings Time Returns, featuring the 7 PM Sunset 🌇 . Partly sunny and 5 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. With a still breeze and the sun feels warmer then that. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Even as close as Five Rivers, there is a fair amount more snow. Things will start to thaw out at Thursday around 1 pm. 🌡But first a snow storm. ️

Another cold morning, and I delayed getting milk for my coffee. Heat is working well in my apartment, but I just didn’t feel like rushing out of bed during the weekend – as I knew it would be cold outside. Maybe I should have gotten an earlier start as the sunny skies aren’t expected to last. I am thinking of doing a little hiking or skiing this afternoon but I’m undecided on the location. I know mornings will be darker again when the time changes, in six weeks but at least they will be warmer at that point.

Yesterday, it was a nice hike out to Five Rivers and Van Dyke Preserve, although I kept moving as it was cold and I didn’t want to freeze off my you know what. The sun helped a lot and there was a lot of nature to see. It also just got my out of my apartment and meant I didn’t burn up much gas while I was away from home. Trying to save wherever I can, especially with the higher heating and electricity bills, being that I work from home. At least with the work VPN and the hotspot plan, I don’t have to drive or take a bus anywhere, so I’m saving there.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 19 degrees at 3pm. 13 degrees below normal. Light north wind. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1913. 6.9 inches of snow fell back in 2000.❄ I think we will get more snow on Monday – Tuesday of this year. I am planning on covering up my truck, so the snow stays off the solar panel this evening for easy cleaning come Wednesday. That way the solar panel can start soaking up the sun and keeping the batteries topped off.

I haven’t really decided what I am going to do today, I might check out a local preserve or I guess I could do some skiing, but I don’t really want to travel too far from home. I am going out to the folks house for Sunday dinner.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 30.1° from the due south horizon (-40.7° vs. 6/21). That’s kind of a big deal as it means days won’t be cold when the sun is out. A six foot person will cast a 10.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:27 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (240°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (247°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:08 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 9 seconds with dusk around 5:37 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:12 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 18 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 57 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow after 3am. Mostly cloudy 🌨, with a low of 13 degrees at 1am. Two degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 10 at 6pm; North wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1920.

Monday is when the snow comes. On Monday snow is likely, mainly after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. North wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. Come Monday night, even more snow with a low around 26. North wind around 13 mph. Night time accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible.

It seems like Monday morning I can definitely do my walk. Maybe not on Monday evening, but that’s fine. I will probably just stay home and watch the snow come down. Tuesday morning probably won’t have sidewalks cleared up enough, but assuming snow removal isn’t a complete cluster they’ll have the sidewalks cleared for the evening walk.

Tuesday is Ground Hog Day. They say the skies will be 85% overcast in Punxsutawney, but history isn’t encouraging – the ground hog sees his shadow most years, although he hasn’t been seeing it as much in recent years probably because more winter days are cloudy and mild due to Climate Change.

🌹🌻🌼Only 48 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

I am thinking maybe if it’s mild after the time changes, I can get up to the Adirondacks for a long weekend or two. If remote work continues, I can work up in Speculator and camp off the East Branch, although a lot depends on how much snow there is in March. Often the snow lasts a long time around in the Adirondacks. I am looking forward to nicer weather for sure.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Valentines Day ❤️ when the sun will be setting at 5:26 pm with dusk at 5:55 pm. Or as I like to spell it, Valente’s Day, mainly because there was an era before spell check. On that day in 2020, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 36 and 7 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1946.