Good morning! Merry but very wet Christmas 🎅! It could have been a blizzard like a few years back, but instead too warm. Actually it looks like Next Friday, New Years Day 2021 🎉, will be far more wintery. Heavy rain and 62 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south breeze at 15 mph. 🍃 with gusts up to 31 mph 💨💨💨. The dew point is 57 degrees. With temperatures in the 60s, there is abut 5 inches of snow on the ground and I just saw a jogger in shorts and spandex run down Elm Avenue. ☃ It’s Delmar, yuppies like their physical fitness. ️But it will get colder as the day progresses, although not until late. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. ☃️

Yesterday had a nice Christmas dinner with the folks. 🦃 Turkey and all the fixings. We decided on Christmas Eve this year, as I wasn’t sure if I was going to be out of town this year for Christmas Day for camping. Today I’ll probably stay home, work on some projects I have around, do some writing and reading, 📖 and maybe watch some of the videos I downloaded yesterday and the day before. 🎅🎄I don’t have any big Christmas plans, as I think it will be much to wet to head up north today.

A White Christmas? ❄ That point is debatable. We have snow but it’s disappearing fast. It actually looks kind of muddy and mucky, and I’m sure it’s even worse in farm country with the dirt roads. Christmas Day will rain before noon, then showers likely, mainly between noon and 2pm. The rain could be heavy at times. Areas of fog before noon. Temperature falling to around 47 by 5pm. Breezy, with a south wind 20 to 25 mph becoming light in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. 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 66 was set in 1889. 19.2 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:56 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:42 pm with the sun in the southwest (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:28 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:59 pm, which is 38 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east-southeast (105°) at an altitude of 36° from the horizon, 252,054 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:36 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of 16 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be scattered rain and snow showers before 9pm, then scattered snow showers between 9pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 24 degrees at 6am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 9th. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1914.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 31 degrees at 1pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical Southwest wind 8 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1895. 13.9 inches of snow fell back in 1969.❄

Originally my plan was to head up to the Adirondacks this weekend, 🏕 and do some winter camping but now it looks like today will be very wet, and then tomorrow will be cloudy up north and pretty cold.☁ Honestly, I find a cloudy day to be more depressing and cold then a cold but clear day. I have the propane and fuel in my truck and enough supplies, 🏔 and it looks like it will be snow-free but the weather down here looks much nicer then up north. I guess Brookfield is another alternative but there is probably still snow and ice on Cherry Ridge and even the lower Assembly area is still probably muddy and smelly after all the rain, even if the sites are hardened for horses and trailers in the summer. I do like Madison County and agricultural landscape, but also the Adirondack wilderness is nice too. Now the next weekend forecast looks nicer, but I’m sure that certainly subject to change too.

Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny, 🌞 with a high near 34. West wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Not a half bad day, but I expect in the

So maybe I need to figure out alternative plans for the weekend. 🚶It seems like things will be quite snow free in most locations, and it will be cold enough that the ground is relatively frozen for walking on, although I certainly wouldn’t want to drive anywhere the ground is not well hardened by asphalt or gravel. But it could be good for hiking. That said, I think there may still be snow in some higher elevation locations.

I have the hotspot service hooked up to my laptop and it working fine, 📲 although I will have to keep an eye on the bandwidth it will use and avoid streaming on my laptop, as I have a 20 GB monthly cap but it should get me through the winter okay for basic work tasks without having to go down to the library parking lot in frigid weather to do work. I have data use monitoring tools on my computer, and I might use wondershaper to limit bandwidth further. It certainly is a lot cheaper then getting Verizon or Spectrum cable service and a lot more flexible as I can travel. It’s pretty fast, and it’s month to month, so come the summer months and the end of the pandemic, I can drop the service and go back to my normal level of cell service, saving like $17 or so bucks a month. Truth be told, I use my phone for most work things these days, so the laptop really is just going to be for things that I can’t do from my phone — a handful of websites or some research may be easier on the laptop.

And while I get that Americans love an all you can eat buffet, 😋 truth be told I like having to conserve and working in a somewhat constrained environment. It makes you think about what your using, and not be so wasteful. I like paying for things in advance, and watching as they get used up and things creep down towards an empty tank. It just is a much more thoughtful of a form of consumption, then the standard of consume now without worries, pay later. 🤑  That honestly may be the reason I am most interested in owning an off-grid property when I own my own land — it’s much more fun to watch the battery bank drain down or propane tanks get used or wood pile to get burnt up, then just use whatever this month and then have to end up mailing a check to the utility company.

As previously noted, next Friday is New Years Day 2021 🎉 when the sun will be setting at 4:32 pm with dusk at 5:04 pm. On that day in 2020, we had cloudy, mild, snow showers and temperatures between 40 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 57 back in 1966.

Good morning! Happy Thursday after the Snow Storm. 🌨 Thanks to the Corona there are no more snow days but also no more buses to tromp through 👢 in the snow Next Thursday is Christmas Eve 🎅. Snow and 17 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a north breeze at 13 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 4. Things will start to thaw out at Sunday around noontime. 🌡️Long cold period ahead but my apartment is eaem

Honestly I am not impacted by the storm 🌨, as I don’t have to go anywhere today as I’ll work from home. 🏡 I do dig out my truck. I did knock the snow off my truck and later on today I’ll pull off the tarp and shovel off the truck. 🚚 This evening I’ll probably go out for my walk once the sidewalks are plowed. It’s a lot of snow but so be it. The Adirondacks didn’t get a lot snow although more than expected but I don’t think I’ll get up there for camping 🏕 at least not until Christmas Day. 🎄🎅🏻❄

Work has been busy the past few days 📝, but I’ve been getting good at moving files 📂 between my phone and laptop. I actually prefer using my phone over the computer because I can carry it around in my hand 🖐🏻 and I’m not forced to be chained to a desk. 🔗 Next week I have to renew my phone 📱 plan and I’m going to month to month and I will then have 20 gb of Hotspot data for things I can’t do through my phone. 📶 I expect another busy day, I have an afternoon meeting and more plans to review.

Today will snow, mainly before noon. The snow could be heavy at times. 🌨 High of 23 degrees at 12pm. 12 degrees below normal. North wind 8 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1984. 11.1 inches of snow fell back in 1970.❄

Going to be cold the next few days. ❄ But except for digging out my truck and my morning and evening walks 🚶🏻 I don’t have to leave home. My heat is working well this year, and that little heater I bought the other day quickly takes the chill off the room and when used occasionally it doesn’t cost that much to operate – according to my Kill-a-Watt meter. Obviously it wouldn’t work with my inverter or solar power but when I have my own land I’ll have a woodstove for heat. ♨

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:53 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.5 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 (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 20 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the south-southwest (210°) at an altitude of 20° from the horizon, 238,365 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:32 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 22 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 18 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 11 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 3 at 5am; North wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2019, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 14 degrees. The record low of -9 occurred back in 1919.

I am continuing to experiment with the 3D mapping 🗺 feature of QGIS. I’m thinking about doing some snow ❄ depth maps. Among other things that I can do with the technology. I kind of wish I had regular internet at home for WMS streams 🌐 so I could do more renderings using aerial photos

The other day I downloaded the first volume of the Foxfire Book 📙 and have been reading it on my phone. I actually like reading books on my phone – the pages flip like a book but my phone is lightweight and fits in a single hand.

Today in 1777 during the American Revolution, France formally recognizes the United States. 🍟 Now we celebrate 🎉 with freedom fries in PFOA lined containers although not for much longer.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 28. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon. Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees.

As previously noted, next Thursday is Christmas Eve 🎅 when the sun will be setting at 4:26 pm with dusk at 4:58 pm. On that day in 2019, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 42 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 72 back in 2015.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s a frosty Friday! Next Friday is Bake Cookies Day 🍪. Partly sunny and 28 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌅 There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 8 am. 🌡️

The sun ☀ certainly feels nice on the morning walk 🚶🏻. Lots of bright sunshine although still pretty cool but I expect it warm up as the day goes on. It looks like the remainder of December which is a good thing in my book 📙.

Yesterday I went downtown to the office 🏢. Honestly I’m a little bit nervous about riding the bus 🚏during this stage of the pandemic now that it has ramped back up, but it probably was fine. Both ways the buses were relatively empty, I used hand sanitizer and soap both after getting to work and home, ✋and my mask was tight fitting. 😷I thought about driving 🚘 but who wants to deal with parking 🅿 one’s big jacked up truck downtown.

It was nice being back in the office, 🏢 taking in the views and seeing some of my colleagues in person. 👥It’s just not the same over the Zoom. I miss the old ways of doing things, I really get tired of being in my apartment all day long. It gets lonely and boring 💤. I am hoping now that the vaccine is approved we can he back to normal sooner than later.

I certainly did not expect the bus to break down on the way home. 🚍 The bus was barely two years old and it blew a radiator hose and spilled fluid all over the floor. I made sure to leave before the four o’clock rush hour figuring it would be a quick trip. Once the bus broke 🚌 a lot of people stood outside and the doors were open ensuring lots of ventilation. 🍃 It’s fine, I got the balance of what I needed done at work so it wasn’t like I was missing much and I’m so adapted to working on my phone 📱 it’s fine. With a lot fewer routes running these days, it only took like 10 minutes to fetch another bus.

Tonight we continued our Zoom interview with John Wolcott 📹 with several other people including Lynne Jackson. It was a pretty interesting discussion for future archival footage purposes. The video quality of Zoom is much better Free Conference Call. I just used the Zoom app on my phone, turning off the video when I wasn’t speaking. 🎤 It used not that much data. That said, once my phone plan 📱 is upgraded I shouldn’t have to worry about running out of data and will be doing most of my work Zooms that way.

After that, some twelve hours ago, I did my evening walk 🚶🏻 last night and sat out back for a while. Took a single sleeping pill 💊 early in hopes of sound sleeping 😴. I’ve been walking five miles each day between the morning and evening. It was a warm enough last night that the heat kept well enough and the toilet 🚽 gasket wasn’t acting up as it was the previous night causing the toilet tank to refill at the middle of the night the previous night. Every time I’m tempted to call the landlord it stops. I have very hard water 💦 where I live and despite the landlord’s plumber frequently visiting I find myself constantly reporting leaks or issues with things like the hot water heater. I just remember the time I was in Westchester with the soft water and everything was covered with bubbles 🗯 with my usual amount of soap.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 48 degrees at 2pm. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 16th. South wind 6 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1952. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 1970.❄

Midday today I plan to get groceries 🛒 and a few supplies including headphones 🎧 and then I’ll go down to the library for the afternoon work session and virtual meeting. 🔋 With the clouds this week and the fact that I’ve been parked all week 🅿 both the starting and accessory batteries are a bit low according to the meters but I expect the sun ☀ plus driving today will rectify that. Even when I upgrade my phone plan in a week and a half I’ll probably still occasionally go to the library 📚 to work to save bandwidth. 📶

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:50 am with sun having an altitude of 24.3° from the due south horizon (-46.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.3 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 (231°). 📸 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 24 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 6 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 44 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 33 degrees at 2am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 12th. South wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of -12 occurred back in 1988.

Today in 1997, The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature. 🌎 The US would never ratify the agreement, and while some countries would participate, it was a lot of talk and not a lot of action. Mostly forgotten about now, there is a conference to renogiate it come next year. Hard to say what happens but I bet Joe Biden’s administration will be a better advocate for climate action compared to the man the voters took out to the dumpster this past election cycle.

Tomorrow will have a chance of rain, mainly after 2pm. Patchy fog between 10am and noon. Otherwise, cloudy 🌧, with a high of 45 degrees at 2pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 31 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1979. 6.6 inches of snow fell back in 1970.❄

I am hoping to get an early start tomorrow 🐸 and walk out to Five Rivers before the rain comes. I’ve been trying to get to bed early and up earlier but it’s hard when I sometimes have trouble sleeping.

Looking ahead to Sunday, a chance of showers before 7am. 🌨️ Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. South wind 8 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 37 degrees.

I would say that Sunday will probably be a a stay home 🏡 day. Most of next week looks unfortunately to be quiet cool. Maybe a big snow storm mid next week but I’m hoping with above average temperatures expected to prevail the next few weeks it will be rain so they don’t get a ton of snow in the Adirondacks. With two four day weekends to close out the year I’m hoping to get out for at least one of them. ⛺

As previously noted, next Friday is Bake Cookies Day 🍪 when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:55 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 36 and 14 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1921.

Good morning! Happy Earliest Sunset of the Year 🌇 ! Next Wednesday is Tea Party Day 🐍. Snow showers and 24 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ Calm wind.Things will start to thaw out at around 11 am. 🌡️

Up fairly early this morning as I went to bed 🛏 earlier last night. Dark morning but I’m enjoying the coffee ☕ and have pancakes 🥞 on the stove. I will bundle up 🧣and head out for my walk after a shower 🚿 and trimming a few of the long hairs 💇🏻‍♂️ on the back of my head. 👤

I actually don’t mind the snow 🌨. If it was rain ☔ it wouldn’t be doing my walk 🚶🏻and it’s not slippery. The snow also makes the land bright 🔆 on a cloudy day. It’s odd how the snow is blowing in from the south east but I guess it’s a coastal storm. 🌀

Yesterday was kind of a boring, 💤 quiet day working from home. I thought about going for a midday walk but I knew as soon as I left my apartment my phone or email 📧 would ring. That said I get so tired of being at home all the time. While the morning walk helps clear my mind 🤯 I feel so cramped at times. Cold out but I did sit on my tailgate for a while looking at the stars ✨ because I get tired of being inside so much.

I did turn the heat up a bit in my apartment but not much, but just enough to be relatively comfortable ♨ being that I am home most of the day now with remote work. 🖥 I’d much rather be in my old office 🏢 but I get that the pandemic is get worse and I keep hearing about folks I know testing positive. ↗️ I have to work downtown tomorrow but I’ll wear a mask, use hand sanitizer and plan my route off hours.

Today will have a chance of snow showers before 2pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 35 degrees at 2pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 17th. South wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1966. 7.3 inches of snow fell back in 2009.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:49 am with sun having an altitude of 24.5° from the due south horizon (-46.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.2 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 (231°). 📸 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 24 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is one second later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and snow 🌨 and temperatures around 35 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 7 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 48 seconds over today.

Tonight will be scattered snow showers, mainly before 8pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 31 degrees at 3am. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 20th. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 8 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of -4 occurred back in 1902.

Today in 1958, the John Birch Society is founded. Businessman and founder Robert W. Welch Jr. (1899–1985) developed an organizational infrastructure in 1958 of chapters nationwide. 👴🏻 After an early rise in membership and influence, efforts by those such as conservative William F. Buckley Jr. and National Review led the JBS to be identified as a fringe element of the conservative movement, mostly in fear of the radicalization of the American right. I was reading that they are still around. In guts you know they are nuts.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 😞 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 37 degrees. I am still hoping for nice weather for Saturday.

I was happy that I got the two Jackson Masks that I ordered in the mail today. 😷 I am quite satisfied with the one I had and I figured while Lynne was having her Cyber Monday sale I should buy some. They are expensive but comfortable and well fitting. It’s good to be supporting a local activist who has done more than anyone bar maybe Resin Adams to Save the Pine Bush. 🌲 They’re having a take out lasagna and Zoom to discuss Reszin Adam’s legacy this weekend but I’m not sure if I can do it without internet plus I don’t want to drive to the city just to get some lasaga. 🍲 I’m hoping we’ll be going back to in person dinners come the spring when the vaccine is widely available.

I got my direct deposit restored yesterday 💵 so that’s in my account. No waiting for the check in the mail. That’s good because I always live pretty much paycheck to paycheck as my checking account bears no interest. The paper paycheck I got before Thanksgiving I took directly to the bank ATM 🏧 the day I got it because I knew my account would be quite drained by the time all of my end of November bills were paid.

I ended up renewing the CD I had coming do at the end of November. 💵 I am hoping to get at least another year out of the truck and my savings account is growing well despite the relatively low rates. 🚘 I really don’t drive that much and will be doing less come the winter. I kind of want to hold off on auto expenses as much as possible so I can keep saving until I can afford land. Some of the properties I’ve been looking at in Missouri are very nice – although anything with a house on it seems much too big and fancy for my tastes. 🏡 Zillow app is a great chance to dream. I got to look at Nebraska and Wisconsin some more too… And the Bad Lands of South Dakota are enticing too.

As previously noted, next Wednesday is Tea Party Day 🐍 when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:55 pm. On that day in 2019, we had mostly cloudy and temperatures between 34 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 55 back in 1971.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Next Tuesday is Bill of Rights Day 📜. Snow showers, cloudy and 25 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Cold day today. Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 10 am. 🌡️

I stayed up much too late last night working on my animated map 🗺 code for the blog. At this point I’m pretty happy how it came out although I do want to make some improvements including fixing it so I can interrupt it while it is processing and tweaking the output file formats. For some animated maps it seems like mp4 video is better than gif – much smaller files and higher quality animation.

Skipped my morning walk and my evening one 🚶🏻 because it’s kind of cold and gray but I had a nice breakfast of French Toast and ham chopped steak. 🍞🥩 I promise myself to bundle and walk this evening. It was a good breakfast. 🥚 I like eggs but not everyday and the same thing with pancakes 🥞.

Another probably quite quiet work at home day. 🖥 The truth is most things I can do just using my phone and I’ve gotten very efficient at moving files 📂 between my phone and laptop. In two weeks though when my phone plan expires I’ll add the Hotspot option for a couple of months until either the weather warms or the pandemic is over. Thursday I’m going to work downtown at least for the afternoon.

Today will have a chance of flurries before 8am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny ⛅, with a high of 32 degrees at 2pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 27th. West wind 5 to 14 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1927. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 2001.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:48 am with sun having an altitude of 24.6° from the due south horizon (-46.2° 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 (231°). 📸 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 23 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 2 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 31 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 8 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 57 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 23 degrees at 12am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 10th. Maximum wind chill around 18 at 6pm; Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable in the evening. In 2019, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 37 degrees. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1902.

I tried out that electric heater fan I bought ♨ and for all the electricity it consumes its really not that hot. But I guess that’s to be expected – you can only draw about 1,500 watts from a 120 volt outlet under code – and while the fan turns 100% of that to heat, that’s only like 5,700 btu compared to the 18,000 btu propane heater I use for winter camping. But then again, electric generating plants dump a lot of their heat into the air and water. 💦 It’s still okay for warming my hands 👐🏻 when I’m cold and beats turning up the heat at home.

This is shocking and actually pretty sad. ⚡ In 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. 🛬 It’s not something that is talked about much anymore but airplanes have improved lightening safety a lot.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. ☔ Saturday, a chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Sunday, showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 37 degrees.

Yeap it’s going to be a stay home weekend 🏡 but maybe at some point this week I’ll get out to Five Rivers. Maybe Saturday although I was thinking I could do lunch out there one day and then hike and work from my truck if it’s warm and sunny enough.

As previously noted, next Tuesday is Bill of Rights Day 📜 when the sun will be setting at 4:22 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 44 and 28 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2015.