Good evening! Fog, light drizzle and 59 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest outside of Watkins Glen. Calm wind. The dew point is 57 degrees. Yucky weather for what is supposed to be the warmest time of summer. 

Today was pretty cool and damp. I went down to Walmart in Watkins Glen to pick up some supplies, especially ice and then to the public library to connect with the Wi-Fi. Unfortunately though they have my blog hosting company blocked there so I couldn’t update or even view my blog from there. I was planning on going to the Watkins Glen State Park in the afternoon to hit up the pool but it started to rain again so I returned to camp.

Back at camp I listened to some podcasts and cooked a late lunch slash early dinner, then hiked back to Foster Pond then over around Potamac Ponds. The trails are such a muddy mess that I had to keep turning back. I really needed to stretch my legs and while everything was wet and misty I was still glad to get out. I did have to change once I got back to camp. 

Returned to camp maybe around seven gathered some firewood and being totally soaked  I decided to get dry clothes and retire early to the inside the truck cap. It is cozy under the blankets. Reviewed my dash cam for videos worth saving and uploading of my trip. While I have done some Instagram photos and Facebook Live Videos, I’ve not used my regular camera much to do videos or higher quality photos because the weather lately has been so wet and crappy. 

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 57 degrees at 3am. Five degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 57 at 10pm. Calm wind. In 2016, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 46 occurred back in 1976.

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent Moon. The First Quarter Moon is on Sunday night with mostly cloudy skies. The Strugeon Moon is on Monday, August 7th. The sun will rise at 5:53 am with the first light at 5:21 am, which is 58 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 9 hours and 20 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 57 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, with a high of 74 degrees at 4pm. Nine degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 60 at 2pm. South wind 5 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had sunny skies. The high last year was 88 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1963.

Should be a nice day tomorrow once the fog burns off. I am planning on visiting Taughannock State Park tomorrow and swimming in Cayuga Lake. Probably be frigid. I will visit the waterfall and gorge and will put the kayak back on the roof of the truck so I can paddle a little on the lake and maybe do some fishing. Should be a nice day after so many crappy ones weather wise lately. 

Cool this weekend with temperatures running nine degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 72. Maximum dew point of 55 at 12pm. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 74. Maximum dew point of 58 at 6pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 82 degrees.

I am thinking about dropping my plans for Pennsylvania for the second half of the week to spend more time in the Finger Lakes. I always enjoy seeing Pennsylvania and Presque Isle is fun, but I’ve lost a lot of time in the Finger Lakes with the really crappy weather. I would still like to swim in Enfield Glen, if only once this year, should the rains stop and water quality be good enough for them to reopen the beach. It is tough for them to control the water conditions there like they can with a swimming pool. Definitely also want to spend more time in the sun at the Watkins Glen pool and get exotic ice cream at the Glen Dairy bar – but not on a cold and rainy day. 

In four weeks on August 22 the sun will be setting at 7:56 pm, which is 37 minutes and 7 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 73 and 55 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 80 and 59 degrees. The record high of 93 degrees was set back in 1916.

Looking ahead, August 1st is Next Tuesday, Altamont Fair Opens is in 3 weeks, More Night Then Day in Albany is in 2 months, Friday the 13th (October) is in 10 weeks, Election Day 2017 is in 15 weeks, Average High is 40 is in 16 weeks, Christmas is in 5 months, Election Day 2018 is in 67 weeks and Election Day 2020 is in 171 weeks.