In the Shadow
First Day of Snow at the Albany Airport, Past 30 Years
The 30-year average for the first measurable snow is November 15th at Albany Airport. This year is pretty much average on that front. The earliest measurable snow in the past 30 years was October 24 in 2002 and 2005, and the latest measurable snow was December 29, 2015. Obviously, Albany had a big snow storm on October 4, 1987 but that's more then 30 years ago.
When Columbus Day Falls in the 21st Century
October 8th is the earliest Columbus Day can fall, while October 14th is the latest it can fall. This year -- October 9th is a bit on the earlier side but not the earliest side. The most common days for Columbus Day in the 21st century are October 8th, October 11, and October 13th.
200-Year Old Houses in New York State
I was playing around with the NYS GIS / Tax Map Feature Service, and realized it was pretty easy to query any building that was built in the state prior to 1820. The trick is keep the query narrow enough so you don't request too many points -- the feature server is limited to something like 1,000 points per request, although your browser will crash before then.
