December 23, 2016 8 AM Update

Definitely a mild morning walking down to the express bus on this morning before Christmas Eve. 38 degrees with sun, although the sun angle is so far south that you feel little warmth besides the bright sunlight as you walk into the light.

Looking at ample sun today but we will only gain about four degrees before maxing our at forty-three. 10 degrees above normal. Southwest wind around 7 mph. Nothing like last winter which started out so mild. A year ago, we had fog, rain and a high of 56 degrees. The record high of 64 was set in 1990. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 1947.

It’s funny how the past few days, it’s been colder in the city down by the river then out in the suburbs due to a temperature inversion. I guess that happens a lot in the winter in Albany.

The sun will set at 4:26 pm with dusk around 4:58 pm, which is 35 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daylight, an increase of 11 seconds over yesterday. The days are growing in length but it will be slow at first. Eventually it will accelerate as we head towards the first day of spring in 86 days.

Tonight will have a chance of freezing rain, mainly after 5am. Increasing clouds, with a low of 31 degrees at 12am. Warming up as daylight approaches, so hopefully that will mitigate the risk of freezing rain. 13 degrees above normal. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. In 2015, it got down to 43 degrees with periods of fog and rain. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1989.

With Christmas Eve tomorrow, there are 2 weeks until Epiphany when the sun will be setting at 4:38 pm with dusk at 5:09 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 34 and 5 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 71 back in 2007. I think this year will be closer to the record then cold we had a year ago.

As to be expected before the holiday weekend there is very light traffic heading into the city, with all the state workers taking time off before they lose it at the end of the year. I think I’m covering for half of the office today.

Hoping that the Christmas Cactus will be in bloom today, but I suspect it won’t be until at least Christmas and maybe a little after. I hope it will be in full bloom by the time I return on Tuesday morning and will give it a good watering before I leave for the day.