I had no issues but things were kind of slick on the way home to and from the bus stop on heavy braking and more of a concern what how much road salt got on my bike riding on the front of the bus coming home last night. I guess I didn’t expect the snow to continue on and off all day yesterday and the roads to be wet and slushy come evening commute. That said it’s not going to be much longer I’m riding to work until it’s lighter in the evening and the bike trail is snow free.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Survived another week, it’s not been a bad one. Day by day. Cloudy and 28 degrees in Delmar. ☁ Calm wind.There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Really aren’t going to make a snowman with that. ️Things will start to thaw out at around 9 am. 🌡️

Ridden to work all five days this week. 🚲 Not too bad, a few days had to use some due care and the front break is squeaking a bit from the road salt. I should wash and grease the bike good this week. Only the ride in due to darkness in the evening, but that’s fine. Only a few more weeks, as I’m afraid January will be too cold or snowy, plus the issue of taking the shuttle with my bike on it, although I could instead use CDTA. Come the spring though, I expect except on rainy days I’ll be riding in each day. 😀 An no more State Street Hill but a longer ride.

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 38 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 15th. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1927. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 2001.❄

Just kind of a bleak early to mid-December day weather wise. 🎄 I think part of the reason they celebrate the holidays this time of year is to overcome the darkness that is upon us. That said, come Sunday we start gaining daylight in the evening, with the 5 PM sunset returning by the end of January. ⛄ While I am still planning one or two more camping trips this year, I’m kind of bummed out about not being able to ride to work in a few weeks. But it’s fine, those days of wearing a suit and tie 👔 aren’t that far off either.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:48 am with sun having an altitude of 24.7° from the due south horizon (-46.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 3 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 37 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 11 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 55 seconds over today.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 31 degrees at 12am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 19th. South wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1902.

In 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. 🌩✈️ As the flight approached Philadelphia, the pilots made radio contact with air traffic control near Philadelphia at 8:42 pm. The controller informed the pilots that the airport was experiencing a line of thunderstorms in the vicinity, accompanied by strong winds and turbulence. The controller asked whether the pilots wanted to proceed directly to the airport or to enter a holding pattern to wait for the storm to pass. The crew elected to remain at 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in a holding pattern with five other aircraft. The controller told the pilots that the delay would last about 30 minutes. At 8:58 pm, the aircraft exploded.[6] The pilots were able to transmit a final message: “MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY. Clipper 214 out of control. Here we go.” Seconds later, the first officer of National Airlines Flight 16, holding 1,000 feet higher in the same holding pattern, radioed, “Clipper 214 is going down in flames.”The aircraft crashed at 8:59 pm in a corn field east of Elkton, Maryland, near the Delaware Turnpike, setting the rain-soaked field on fire. The aircraft was completely destroyed, and all of the occupants were killed. A lot has improved in lightening and airplane safety since then. I think pilots generally try to avoid thunderstorms and turbulence these days, and radar is far better then it once was.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 45 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 27th. South wind 5 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1966. 7.3 inches of snow fell back in 2009.❄

Saturday plans are to be decided. 💭 I am of two minds. I would like to get the Salvation Army to look at clothes but I also don’t want to get a bunch of salt on my truck or have to gas it up. ⛽ Then do some riding on my mountain bike in the Albany Pine Bush and get groceries. 🛒 But I guess I’m okay with clothes for now, though I’d like to get some dressy stuff for wearing come January that fits well. 👔 Often I can find good things now that I’m so much slimmer. On the other hand, I could stay home, go for a nice long bike ride, maybe make some soup and then be home before dark and do more of the Udemy Machine Learning Course.

Looking ahead to Sunday, rain. 🌧 High near 55. South wind 11 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. It looks like the rain will be heavy enough that I won’t have to worry about much salt on the road at that point, and if anything any salt I get on my truck will be mostly washed off by the heavy rain. Not that I guess it makes much difference. Going shopping in the morning 🛒 would give me something to do and then go out to folks house later 👪 as I don’t think Sunday will be a good day for anything outdoors. ☔

Looking, next Friday is Bill of Rights Day 📜 when the sun will be setting at 4:24 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. As I often point out, the constitution is not self-enforcing. It’s all a matter of quality of judges and the politicians people elect. Politicians and even judges ignore the law all of the time when it’s inconvenient and they have the power to get around it. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy, sleet and temperatures between 33 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 38 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2015.