Good evening! Cloudy and 41 degrees in Westerlo. There is a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. The skies will clear Wednesday around 5 am. Kind of a damp evening, but still sleeping in my truck at my parents house, because I like to spend a least one night a week under the truck cap. It will be plenty warm under my covers though.

Finally got the code working to make the primary election maps up in Google Maps. I will post the first one tomorrow. I couldn’t figure out why my colors weren’t displaying right — I forgot colors are backwards in Google Maps, and forgot to reverse their order when setting the colors. Once I swapped the red and blue channels, things worked perfectly. Tomorrow I’m posting a map of the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary. More primary race maps coming soon.

Also, did you see I posted an updated Google Map of all the lean-tos in the state, and tomorrow will be sharing a list of lean-tos. People like that list a lot, and it’s been a long time since I’ve uploaded an newer version. It’s pretty simple export from Quantum GIS, but it does take some manipulation in OpenOffice Calc and some HTML to make it display properly. But that’s one of many new GIS-style content I have for next week.

I had Sunday dinner at my parents house, where they celebrated Cinco de Mayo late this year. Mom made this really good Mexican-style casserole for dinner. Something she found out of a magazine, but it was remarkably good. And now I’m sleeping in the truck.

The new LED reading lamp I got is impressively bright. I plugged it into my USB port I have in my truck cap, and it really lit things up well for reading. Absolutely no problem reading the book, which appeared bright white, even four feet away. I have an 12 volt/USB extension cord which means I can take the light even farther back for reading by the campfire or plug into one of those USB battery packs I have at home. It also will light the tailgate up well when I’m sitting out back and having a cold one or two.

Tonight will have a slight chance of rain showers before 3am, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers. Cloudy, with a low of 35 degrees at 5am. 10 degrees below normal. West wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, it got down to 45 degrees with rain and mist. The record low of 26 occurred back in 1968.

Waxing Gibbous Moon tonight with 83% illuminated. The moon will set around 5:12 am. The Full “Flower” Moon is on Wednesday night with mostly cloudy skies expected. The sun will rise at 5:41 am with the first light at 5:10 am, which is one minute and 13 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 9 hours and 37 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 16 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of rain and snow showers before 7am, then a chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 48 degrees at 3pm. Cold day, essentially 19 degrees below normal. West wind 9 to 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had mist then mostly sunny skies and a high of 59 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 1936. There was a dusting of snow in 1977.

The long range doesn’t look that great for next weekend. Major bummer! Next Saturday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 62. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 46 at 4pm. Maybe Saturday will be okay but chilly. We’ll have to watch it. Next Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 46 at 5pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 69 degrees.

In four weeks on June 4 the sun will be setting at 8:29 pm, which is 26 minutes and 10 seconds later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had heavy fog, fog, shallow fog, patches of fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 84 and 61 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 75 and 53 degrees. The record high of 97 degrees was set back in 1919.

If it ever gets that warm, I have the fan up and running in my truck cap. It’s not a real big fan but being oscillating and having fairly well designed blades and speed, it pushes the air around well in the truck cap. The truck cap is relatively small space, so it preforms well. It will be nice when it gets warm. It’s clipped onto the bed rail in the truck, but can be easily moved to clip on the tailgate or table, so when sitting back at camp, and I want to stay cool or keep the bugs off me in the mid-summer.

Looking ahead, Mother’s Day is Next Sunday, Father’s Day is in 6 weeks, Buck Moon is in 9 weeks, National Cheese Cake Day is in 12 weeks, Strugeon Moon is in 3 months, 7 PM Sunset is in 19 weeks, Average High is 60 is in 23 weeks, Daylight Savings Time Ends is in 26 weeks, Election Day 2017 is in 6 months, Cold Moon is in 30 weeks and New Years Eve is in 34 weeks.