Search Results for: photo the rain has arrived

April 29, 2021 Morning

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Fog and clouds and 58 degrees out for my morning walk past the Bethlehem Central High School. ๐ŸŒซ Calm wind. The dew point is 57 degrees. A tad bit of a mugginess in the air. The skies will clear Saturday around 5 am. I am glad I at least was able to get out for my walk.

Yesterday was an incredibly busy day ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿป‍๐Ÿ’ผ between the lunch time meeting downtown and the project I was working on. ๐Ÿ“„ Kind of nice having things start to get closer back to normal. ๐Ÿ˜ท Still wearing the mask on the bus and hallways, but with everybody vaccinated didn’t have to be quite so concerned about maintaining six-feet in the office, ๐Ÿ”€. I do love the view from my office in the Smith building, but when I return downtown, I might actually be moving to a new private office, with not such a great view but closer to department I work with these days.

I went over to John Wolcott’s house for a while ๐Ÿ“œ and while we didn’t find anything too exciting, it was an interesting afternoon in the sense a bunch of bullets rang out down the street about 5 minutes after I arrived. ๐Ÿ”ซ Sounded like a 22lr gun, I tuned into police scanner and they said it was somebody shooting a long-gun in a blue Jeep liberty. ๐Ÿ’ฅ They closed off the street for a while, and I don’t know what ended up happening but by the time I went to catch the bus, ๐ŸšŒ everything was packed up and gone except for one remaining police car. ๐Ÿ‘ฎ‍โ™€๏ธ Don’t you know, you aren’t supposed to be shooting off your guns within 500 feet of an occupied structure that you don’t own. ๐ŸŒฒ One of the advantages of being in Adirondacks — being able to shoot your guns without people getting all pissy like they do in the ghetto. ๐Ÿš

Today will have showers likely, mainly between 2pm and 3pm, then rain after 3pm. Patchy fog before 9am. ๐ŸŒฆ High of 64 degrees at 1pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 1st. Maximum dew point of 58 at 2pm. ๐Ÿ–๏ธ Calm wind becoming north around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half 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 66 degrees. The record high of 88 was set in 1888. 1 inch of snow fell back in 1885.โ„ Hardly something to write about, then again Saturday is May Day.

I am not expecting a real nice day, โ›ˆ and probably real wet later but at least I got out for my morning walk. I am thinking about going to laundromat ๐Ÿ‘• but it will depend on how the day goes, I might change my mind later on. Starting to run low on groceries, but my list of things to do for work is so long ๐Ÿ“‹ that I don’t know if leaving my computer during the day is going to work. ๐Ÿ“จ I’m also having some issues with emails on my phone. I’ll have to try to figure that out as I’ve been super busy lately. ๐Ÿค– But I guess it’s a good change, it makes me feel far less bored, and I’m getting important things done.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:53 pm with sun having an altitude of 62° from the due south horizon (-8.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 7:15 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (284°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-northwest (291°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:54 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 6 seconds with dusk around 8:24 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 9:02 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 62 degrees. The dew point will be 56 degrees. There will be a east-southeast breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 14 hours and one minute of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 32 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain before 8pm, then showers, mainly between 8pm and 2am. ๐ŸŒง Low of 53 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 30th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 6pm. ๐Ÿ–๏ธ Southeast wind 5 to 8 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. In 2020, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 47 degrees. The record low of 25 occurred back in 1874.

Ever since I got out camping I’ve been sleeping really well. ๐Ÿ’ค It’s amazing what a few nights in the wilderness can do for sleeping. ๐Ÿ›Œ Maybe it’s the campfires ๐Ÿ”ฅ or having a few beers up at camp, ๐Ÿบ but it’s probably just listening to sound of wilderness.

The weekend forecast has improved. ๐Ÿ˜Ž Saturday, sunny, with a high near 55. Northwest wind 14 to 16 mph. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 68. Maximum dew point of 48 at 1pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 65 degrees. Yeah, I’ll take that forecast but it should also awaken the black flies. ๐Ÿœ That said, I think this is a stay at home weekend, just because next Monday doesn’t look great, and I just got back from the Adirondacks.

Looking ahead, there are 8 weeks until Strawberry Moon ๐ŸŒ• when the sun will be setting at 8:37 pm with dusk at 9:12 pm. On that day in 2020, we had humid and humid weather partly sunny, rain showers and temperatures between 85 and 65 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 80 degrees. Yeah, that’s late June. We hit a record high of 96 back in 1943.

Tarbell Farms Foundation

December 14, 2019 Night

Good evening! Cloudy, damp and 42 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” There is a south-southwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. A break from the rain for now. The mild temperatures and rain are doing a job on the snow. There are 2.5 inches of snow left on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธTemperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

It was a nice Christmas decorating party at my parents house. 🎄 My niece is growing old fast but aren’t we all? Lots of good food 🍲. I got home early and put away my wash 👚 and did some cleaning in the bathroom 🛁. Then I rode the excerise bike 🚲 for 45 minutes โณquiting mostly because it was 8:20 pm and I was a bit concerned that the rumble would bother m neighbor as it was getting late. 😴 Took two sleeping pills – which according to the label is the recommended dose – I normally take one but hopefully I’ll sleep well tonight. 💊Only have a week left on the doxycycline and I’ll be glad when I no longer have to take that medication. I hate how sometimes in the morning it makes me feel like I am going to puke.

Tonight will have a slight chance of rain before 11pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 35 degrees at 5am. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 3rd. West wind 9 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -8 occurred back in 1874.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous Moon 🌖 with 82% illuminated. The moon will set at 10:20 am. The Last Quarter Moon is on Tuesday night with partly cloudy skies. The sun will rise at 7:17 am with the first light at 6:45 am, which is 46 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 55 minutes of darkness, an increase of 32 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of rain showers before 2pm, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers between 2pm and 4pm, then a slight chance of snow showers after 4pm. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 41 degrees at 10am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 3rd. Breezy, with a west wind 18 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 2015. 8.2 inches of snow fell back in 1968.โ„

I want to get an early start tomorrow and get to the store 🏬 and buy groceries for the week and return beer cans โ™ป. I also need fuel โ›ฝ for Big Red. I’m hoping that maybe if I go early I’ll avoid the crowds 👫👬👭👪 and then if it’s nice in the afternoon go for a walk as I’m not convinced they’ll be a lot of snow later. Then probably go to the Save the Pine Bush benefit night at the Low Beat. It sucks that’s its on a Sunday in the middle of the city when no busses are running but so be it. I guess I could park downtown and then take the 1 up Central 🚍.

I was originally was thinking about going camping โ›บ next weekend after the Pine Bush Hike🌲in the Adirondacks but I agreed to help Cynthia Pooler of Focus on Albany fame with the documentary she is putting together on community activist Reszin Adams. Ms. Adams as the Times Union once put it is the Alpha Activist of Albany. Probably nobody outside of Theresa Cook has done as much progressive advocacy. It’s such a privilege to be asked to help out. 📹

After looking at rechargeable lanterns 🏮 I decided to ask mom about getting me one of the Lightning Ever rechargable lanterns for Christmas. My mom has several of the non rechargable ones in her house for power outages and they’re really nice and quite inexpensive. 🔋 The big selling point for me is the lanterns use 18650 cells so I’m going to buy extra cells and a stand alone charger to always keep them in my truck fully charged. This way I won’t have to worry about a dead battery and the lantern not working at camp. Those lanterns are small and efficient enough to use for backpacking or hot tenting at night like I plan to do in two weeks.

Still haven’t gotten the voltage switch from China. 🔌 I thought it would have arrived during the week as it said it cleared customs 🛃. I have everything ready to wire it up once I get it, test it and build the wiring harness instead so I’m not messing around outside in the cold โ„. I’ll have to work on wiring it up next weekend.

In four weeks on January 11 the sun will be setting at 4:42 pm,🌄 which is 19 minutes and 39 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 24 and 12 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 57 degrees was set back in 1975.

Looking ahead, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is a month away, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 5 weeks, 5 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 6 weeks, February 🌧 is in 7 weeks, Valentines Day โค๏ธ is in 2 months, Average High is 50 🌸 is in 15 weeks, Average High is 60 🌼 is in 18 weeks and the Average High is 70 🐮 is in 22 weeks.

Wind and Rain Shelter I put up this weekend

December 8, 2019 Morning

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Frigid start to the morning but very sunny. Next Sunday is Bill of Rights Day 📜. Tear it up and it makes good bedding in the cow barn. 🐮 Mostly sunny and 17 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. There are 11 inches of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ Lot less snow then six days ago for sure. Even though it’s been relatively cold the sun has done a number on the snow. ๏ธIt’s actually warming up pretty quickly and shortly I plan to head out skiing 🎿. Things will start to thaw out at around 2 pm. 🌡๏ธ

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 35 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 17th. Light south wind increasing to 10 to 15 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1927. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 2001.โ„

Should be a great morning for skiing 🎿 at least until the clouds roll in and the sky wind picks up. But for sure I’m wearing wool socks and thermal underwear this morning as it’s cold โ„. Then I got to pick up a few things at the grocery store but it’s a fairly short list. Just going to stop at Hannaford. I’m thinking about making a quick and easy pumpkin 🎃 pie for office Christmas party 🎄.

The sun will set at 4:21 pm with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 4 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 Tomorrow is the earliest sunset of the year and it will be particularly dark evening with heavy rain โ˜” in expected tomorrow. Tonight at sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 33 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 15 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, an decrease of one minute over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 34 degrees at 6pm. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 8th. Breezy, with a south wind 15 to 20 mph decreasing to 8 to 13 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Might even feel colder tonight even though the mercury is higher. In 2018, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1902. Now that’s a true sign that winter has arrived.

This is shocking and sad. In 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, โœˆ a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning โšก and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. That’s actually kind of a horrifying tragedy but airplanes are a lot safer now.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until National Bird Day 🐧 when the sun will be setting at 4:35 pm with dusk at 5:07 pm. Birds the word! 🐦 On that day in 2019, we had rain and temperatures between 40 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1950.

Tree

November 27, 2019 Night

Good evening! The Thanksgiving holiday weekend has arrived. Rain showers and 48 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” There is a west-northwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 10 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Continuing to work on the updated blog theme some more. โœ’ Continuing to research how to repair my camp lantern, 🏮 I’m going to try to take it apart tomorrow and see if I can clean whatever is clogged with dirt and carbon. Rode the exercise bike for a while, watched some YouTube videos. Kind of a rainy night, no evening walk 🚶 for me.

Tonight will have showers likely, mainly before midnight. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 40 degrees at 5am. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 15th. Northwest wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 18 degrees. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1951.

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent Moon 🌒 with 7% illuminated. The moon will rise at 9:02 am. The First Quarter Moon is on Tuesday night. The Cold Moon 🌝 is in 2 weeks. The sun will rise at 7:01 am with the first light at 6:30 am, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 37 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 38 seconds over last night.

Thanksgiving Day will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 42 degrees at 9am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 29th. North wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 1990. 6.0 inches of snow fell back in 1985.โ„

I’m really leaning against heading out camping this weekend after seeing the latest snow โ›„ models but I’ll reevaluate if I can get two nights out camping. โ›บ It just seems like once again a lot of money is going out 💵 and not much coming in so from a financial standpoint might be good to stay home 🏡. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day at the folks 🍗 but a few days home wouldn’t be too bad.

In four weeks on December 25 the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm,🌄 which is 2 minutes and 16 seconds later then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had snow showers and temperatures between 33 and 17 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 33 and 18 degrees. The record high of 66 degrees was set back in 1889.

Looking ahead, Average High is 40 🌨 is in 1 weeks, Christmas 🎅 is in 4 weeks, New Years Day 2019 🎉 is in 5 weeks, National Bird Day 🐦 is in 7 weeks, 37th Birthday 🎉 is in 9 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 60 weeks.

NY 280

October 15, 2015 update

I decided to leave West Virgina on Tuesday, in part because I wanted to stay at a developed campground where I could get a shower, and because I was getting awful tired of the narrow, steep roads of West Virgina. Iโ€™m sure not every road is awful in West Virginia, but it sure seems like I have been driving up them โ€“ from Dolly Sods Road to Spruce Mountain Road โ€“ to say nothing of the somewhat larger but much heavier traffic of US 33 as it crosses Judyโ€™s Pass to Franklinton then again over Shenandoah Mountain. I just hate the steep climbs, the descending in low gear, and the traffic wanting to blast pass.

Shenandoah National Park was on my list to see. I figured if I was going to be in West Virginia, I better also swing east to Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I was generally heading that way from Grandy Creek, the other alternative was to head south to WV 22 and out that way, but I wanted to see Spruce Mountain, which there is a road that takes you up 4,823 feet to the highest point in West Virginia. You certainly canโ€™t drive that high anywhere in New York on a public road, and only the highest of high peaks take you up there. The summit of Spruce Mountain is remarkably beautiful and mostly undeveloped besides a narrow paved road that takes you to the top, a small picnic area and observation platform. The drive down Spruce Mountain was so steep though.

US 33 was quite the climb and descent over the two mountain ranges from where I was to Virginia. It was steep but once you reached the Shenandoah Valley, US 33 cuts through a beautiful section of the George Washington National Forest without a bend  in miles. You quickly forget the awful drive you just made over Shenandoah Mountain. To make matters worst, US 33 was being repaved over Shenandoah Mountain, so I ended up getting stuck at the bottom weighting for the pilot car to bring me and a long line of traffic up the three miles up it on the West Virginia side. The Virginia side was just as as steep, but the lanes were wider and despite the hairpin turns,seemed much more navigable.

Harrisonburg, VA is a pretty large city. I had no idea until I arrived downtown and had to fight traffic on six lane roads. The Shenandoah Valley was pretty with a lot of chicken farms and some dairies, but this general area was also rapidly suburbanizing, with houses abutting farms. Iโ€™m sure that leads to a strained relationship at times between the farms and the suburbanites. Smelled somewhat like farm country, not unlike around Lowville or any of the great agricultural valleys in New York. Harrisonburg sucked to drive through, but once you got 5 miles out of town it was a four lane road with occasional traffic lights and a fairly heavily volume, but eventually it became open, rolling country. US 33 drops down to 2 lanes with occasional passing lanes as you entered the park. I would like to get down and see more of the Shenandoah Valley away from the city. Maybe tomorrow or Friday.

When I first arrived at Shenandoah National Park I was under-impressed, as the section of Skyline Drive  north of US 33 isnโ€™t immediately impressive despite the overviews. The wonderful weather of Tuesday morning had turned to clouds as I headed east into the the front. It might have been sunny and beautiful in West Virginia, but by the time I was east in Shenandoah Valley it had gotten cloudy and hazy. The Shenandoah Valley also suffers from a major air pollution problem, which is somewhat less in West Virginia in the very rural area around Spruce Mountain. The wilderness area around Spruce Mountain and Dolly Sands is very impressive, some of the views at Shenandoah were less impressive.

I decided to camp at Matthewโ€™s Arm Concentrated Camping Operation, the farthest north campground along the parkway โ€“ 21 miles from the northern start of Skyline Drive. It was a nice campground although it was fairly rustic. It has flush toilets and running water in the bathrooms, but it refill water containers, you had to drive to the trailer dump station and water filling area (separate faucets, obviously). One thing this campground lacked was showers, which was a disappointment. But they recommended you visit the pay showers 15 miles down the road at Big Meadows. This campground was $15 a night with no taxes or fees, it did not have electricity in the campground. They had heated bathrooms with running water. No hot water at Matthewโ€™s Arm but they did have hot water at Loft Mountain. I had dinner and a few beers and was in bed by 9 PM. They openly allow (and sell alcohol) at the Shenandoah National Park campgrounds which is kind of nice. Still having neighbors and having to keep the music down and being brief with idling the engine to keep the batteries charged, is less nice.

I had to get up early to go to the bathroom, and ultimately decided to get up around 6:45 AM to drive over to one of the overlooks to watch the sun rise.
While a somewhat cloudy morning, it was a beautiful start to the day. Broke camp around 9:30 AM and started south on the parkway, stopping at several of the overlooks, then when I got cellphone service, uploaded some photos to share with people, along with previous nights posts. Stopped at Big Meadows Visitors Center and also at the showers at Big Meadows around noontime.

In the nicer weather, spending more time on the parkway, showed how beautiful many of the views are along the parkway. The haze wasnโ€™t as bad in the clear, drier weather, although still notable across the valley. Some of the overviews from Skyline Drive are remarkably beautiful, others less so. The leaves arenโ€™t peak everywhere, but there is some nice colors showing up in various directions. Got a campsite at the Loft Mountain Concentrated Camping Operation. Picked a site high up on the hill, hoping to get cellphone reception and at least good radio reception. The cellphone reception was pretty marginal from camp, but I did have good radio reception for listening to any local radio station within reason. Watched the sun set from one of the overlooks. I retired to bed around 10 PM. Nice flush toilets, hot water, and heated bathrooms. Showers just down the road.

Todayโ€™s plan is to head further down Skyline Drive until I reach the Blue Ridge Parkway. I will probably go a ways down the Parkway, and hopefully find some place to camp at a campground along it. When I reach Interstate 64 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I will take that west back to West Virigina and on Friday night camp on at site along one of the roads in West Virigina. From there I will take I-99 in Pennsylvania to Wellsboro and the Grand Canyon Country, overnight there, and return to Albany on Sunday afternoon.

Five Mile Mountain

I got up at 5 AM on Saturday and headed off to the Tongue Mountain Range. I arrived there around 8 AM, because I made several stops on the way up, and didn’t really get in my truck until 6:30 after getting ready and having breakfast.

I wanted to hike up Fifth Peak and French Mountain, famous for their views of Lake George, but I ended up hiking up Five Mile Mountain, as I parked at the wrong area based on my faulty memory of where the trail head was, based on a brief drive by some three years ago back in college.

Trailhead

The markers on the trail where old, but it was well marked with these 1967-era trail markers and carins.

1967 Trail Marker

Carin

Lake George can be seen off one view from Brown Mountain. It was raining as I hiked up there.

Evening on Meads Road

I was fortunate enough to make it up to the Five Mile Leanto before the sky just opened up and started to pour.

Five Mile Mountain Leanto

Sitting in the lean to watching as the rain rapidly approached me. This lean-to was not well thought out as it faces due west. But it must have good views of the sunset. Maybe some night I should stay up here.

Rain Soaked Trail

Fortunately the rain passed relatively quickly.

Waiting Out the Rain

But it left the trail fairly swampy in parts.

Rain Soaked Trail

The trail from Five Mile Mountain has some limited views to the east over Lake George. It was still cloudy when reached this point around 10 AM but was starting to clear out.

Raining Over Lake

You descend down Five Mile Mountain come to the intersection of the trail to Fifth Peak and French Mountain.

Trail Choices

After you get on the trail to descend down to Five Mile Point, you go past a long and skinny portion of creek dammed up by beavers.

Beaver Swamp

Descended down to Five Mile Point and had lunch along Lake George. It’s a relatively steep and long descend down to Five Mile Point, and it continues to be steep until you get down to the shore. Not a perfect place for a picnic, but still pretty.

Percent Change in Total Employed, April 2022 vs April 2012

Here’s a boater passing by an island on the other side of Lake George.

Boating

The trail back up from Five Mile Point was an old-wagon road, probably abandoned for 100 years now. It’s a steep climb back up it.

Trail Back Up Mountain

The views back atop of Five Mile Mountain where amazing, once it cleared out with just a few clouds remaining.

Bernie Sanders Plan A

It cleared out by the time I was back up on Five Mile Mountain. There is Lake George, Bear Mountain on the other side, and the Green Mountains and Vermont in the distance.

Bear and Beyond

Hiking along the trail…

Hiking

The view from the lean-to when the weather is a bit nicer.

West from Lean To

Near where the trail splits off to go over to Deer Point (which I did not visit), there was a serious forest fire in 1985. It was one hell of a fire, as witnessed from the damage from almost 25 years ago.

One Hell of a Fire

I arrived back at my truck around 5:30 PM, a bit tired and sore. But the views where great!


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