Good evening! Mostly clear and 68 degrees in Westerlo, NY. Calm wind. The dew point is 57 degrees. Camping out at my parents house tonight. Not as much fun as wilderness camping, but maybe we will have better weather next weekend — and I’ll be able to get up to Piseco-Powley Road or somewhere else in the Adirondacks. I do like a nice night back by the campfire.

Today, as you can see from the blog I went up to Partridge Run. Did some fishing, caught noting but milfoil in Beaver Pond. Went for a hike along part of the Long Path and back through the woods. Beaver Pond Road is still the roughest public road in all of Albany County, I believe. it was fun driving it with all the mud and bumps. I also drove up to the Game Farm Road property and checked it out. I didn’t have a map, so I don’t know if there are any real trails to explore up there, but it is a scenic drive. Hopefully the town and county will turn it into something nice.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 58 degrees at 5am. Three degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 57 at 10pm. South wind 3 to 5 mph. In 2016, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 63 degrees. The record low of 47 occurred back in 1963.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous Moon. The Last Quarter Moon is next Sunday with showers is likely. The Strugeon Moon is on Monday, August 7th. The sun will rise at 5:27 am with the first light at 4:53 am, which is 44 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 8 hours and 53 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 12 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, with a high of 84 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 63 at 6pm. Southwest wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 79 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1936.

Right now, next weekend looks quite nice for mid-July. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Maximum dew point of 63 at 7pm. Sunday, scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 65 at 7pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 83 degrees.

I am thinking about Piseco-Powley Road again for the weekend, and may do some fishing at Piseco Lake or Big Bay, although the later hasn’t worked well for me in the past. I could also go up to Wells and camp either off of Pumpkin Hollow Road or White House (haven’t been to later in a while), but i’m thinking more of a wilderness experience then being in the town of Wells. The beach in Wells or Speculator might be fun though — and i’ve also wanted to paddle the part of the Sacanadaga River flat water north of Auger Falls. So I don’t know. Schoharie County is always a possibility too, but I don’t think so much next weekend. Maybe hold off for August when I’m done with vacation. I will have plenty of pool time when I’m in the Finger Lakes during the last week of July.

In four weeks on August 6 the sun will be setting at 8:08 pm, which is 25 minutes and 40 seconds earlier then tonight. Those nice long summer evenings won’t be with us forever. In 2016 on that day, we had rain, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 86 and 69 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 82 and 61 degrees. The record high of 98 degrees was set back in 1900.

I wore shorts out hiking, which was a terrible decision for hiking at Partridge Run with the tall grass. But I checked for ticks and didn’t see any on my legs. One spot that I thought was a tick, I hit up with the tick key I have, but I think I just ripped a small scab off my leg. I’ll have to keep an eye out for bulls eye rashes, although so far I’ve been able to avoid Lyme Disease. I should have thought the day out more in advance. But I guess you only get a chance to live once.

This past weekend, made several small improvements to the blog. The most noticeable is the improved index on the homepage, which links to all of the most popular posts on the blog.  Other changes are mostly internal, like those that are making the forecast predictions more accurate, and adding new weather graph types.

It was nice having a fairly quiet relaxed weekend, but I can’t wait for my next camping adventure somewheres in the back county. The dirt roads are calling me.

Looking ahead, National Cheese Cake Day is in 3 weeks, 7 PM Sunset is in 10 weeks, Columbus Day is in 3 months, Average High is 60 is in 14 weeks, Daylight Savings Time Ends is in 17 weeks, Cold Moon is in 21 weeks and New Years Eve is in 25 weeks.