February 11, 2017 Night

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“It’s the calm before the big snowstorm, laying in bed under the dim red light. It should be yet another winter wonderland when I awake.” 

Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 31 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. The calm before the snowstorm. A foot plus of snow is expected between daybreak tomorrow and Monday. Cloudy Monday then clearing in the evening around 6 pm.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow after 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 26 degrees at 4am. Nine degrees above normal. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, it got down to 3 degrees with periods of snow. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1979.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 92% illuminated. The Last Quarter Moon is next Saturday. The Full “Worm” Moon is on Sunday, March 12th. The sun will rise at 6:56 am with the first light at 6:27 am, which is 1 minutes and 20 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 13 hours and 31 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 40 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will snow, mainly after 9am. The snow could be heavy at times. High of 32 degrees at 2pm. Two degrees below normal. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible. A year ago, we had snow and a high of 24 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 1932. 13.5 inches of snow fell back in 1988. We may break that record tomorrow. 

In four weeks on March 11 the sun will be setting at 5:58 pm, which is 34 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 55 and 34 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 42 and 24 degrees. The record high of 70 degrees was set back in 1977.

Looking ahead, Average High is 40 is in 3 weeks and April Fools Day is in 7 weeks.

I was originally thinking about going to the Adirondacks Outdoorsman Expo but it’s a really long drive, especially on a gray and dark day like today. It’s not the biggest show, hosted in an Elks Lodge or one of those faternal lodges, and if the drive isn’t nice, it ain’t worth it in my opinion. If we had more sun today, and I could combine it with skiing or at least a scenic drive I would have done it. No sense driving two hours round trip for something your only going to spend a half hour exploring. Maybe next year?

I got shopping today, so I should be all set for next week. I ended up going to Walmart because I needed more black socks for work like their pre-packaged sandwich meat, which seems to last better then the fresh sliced. It’s all those preservatives. And it’s lightly packaged, which means less trash, which is a big thing when I pay to get to rid of it.

Cleaned up the kitchen, took out the trash and baked a cake for when I went out to my parents house for Sunday dinner, scheduled one day early due to the poor road conditions for tomorrow. Went to the library, got some DVDs and books out. Had a good Sunday dinner at my parents, did my wash. Parked my truck on side of the house, so the landlord can push the snow back when it falls. I don’t plan to dig out my truck until next Saturday. The bus will get me to work and I don’t need to go anywhere in the meantime. 

Got my cross country skis and snowshoes out of my truck. I may need them tomorrow. If the snow is pretty I will go skiing down to the park. I don’t know if the library will be open tomorrow but I’ve already scheduled interesting posts for the blog and got several interesting  books out of the library. I almost wish the snow would hold off for one more day so not to impact my weekend so much. Snow will make my commute somewhat of a pain on Monday but ultimately th bus will be running and I’ll make it to work. 

Peasley Road

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It gets icy once you get past the end of the asphalt.

Walmart Supercenter at 2/11/17 1:38 pm

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Tinted windows are unnecessary in Upstate NY when you have a truck with tires that extend beyond the fenders.

I can’t see out the damn windows due to all the salt coating them. The wheels kick so much salt and sand up from the road. 

Snow

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Will Sunday’s snow storm be extraordinarily bad in Albany? Quite possibly. 

Here is why I think it possible that the snowstorm will put a strain on the city’s capacity to remove snow:

– Some models are predicting Albany will get 13-17 inches of snow. While not record breaking it will be still one of larger snowfalls recorded in Albany area.

– Albany received close to a foot of snow in parts of the city over the past few days. While a lot of that snow has hauled to snow dumping grounds in the city, there are still snowbanks throughout the city that plows will be pushing heavy wet snow on top of. 

– Having snow last night along with the big storm on Wednesday means there was inevitable snowplow breakdowns and equipment taken out of service for repairs and maintenance. 

– The snow will be heavy and wet. Freezing rain may mix in. This will put a lot of strain on equipment, breaking and bending plows and damaging suspension components. Some motors on plow trucks may overheat and fail.

-While Tuesday through Friday may get warm enough to assist with melting for treated surfaces, not a lot of sun is expected next week and the temperature will remain around freezing. Don’t expect a lot of melting. 

Not all these factors may come true but this a snow storm to watch and be prepared for severe traffic and transit delays and slick roads throughout the week.