Good evening! Mostly clear and 32 degrees in City of Albany. Breezy, 22 mph breeze from the west-northwest with gusts up to 38 mph. The current wind chill is 19. 

Not a terrible day but it sure is cold out this evening. Not unexpected for early March and indeed last year was this cold, but still it is tough when it was so nice yesterday with a high temperature reaching a record breaking 66. Which is still colder then the 74 we hit during the last Friday in February. 

I have two buds on the Christmas cactus and I as I noted yesterday, it looks a lot healthier now that I’m occasionally adding fertilizer to the plant. 

Other than that it was a rather unimpressive but still interesting day. Nothing major happened but I learned some new things, although none of them surprised me. When you have done the same job for many years, most days seem less remarkable as the transactions of day get done. What once was unfamiliar becomes the norm. I like being in my comfort zone. 

Speaking of that, I’m glad I turned on the heat before work, as with the wind and the mercury around freezing, I’m going to have to turn it up before I get home. 

Tonight the sun will set at 5:46 pm with dusk around 6:15 pm, which is 1 minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. Watching the sun set from the bus this time is nice, especially not being a motorist. Nice big sun ball setting over the Heldeberg Mountains. 

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 18 degrees at 6am. Three degrees below normal. West wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. In 2016, it got down to 17 degrees with periods of snow. The record low of -10 occurred back in 1950.

Waxing Crescent Moon tonight with 34% illuminated. The moon will set around 11:41 pm. The First Quarter Moon is on Sunday night with mostly cloudy expected. The Full “Worm” Moon is on Sunday, March 12th. The sun will rise at 6:26 am with the first light at 5:58 am, which is 1 minutes and 39 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 12 hours and 38 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over last night.

Going to be cold and brisk weekend. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 22. Blustery, with a northwest wind 16 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 34. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. Makes up for all the recent nice weather of recent. At least it will be sunny and the following weekend starts Daylight Savings Time. Which is great except for the part about getting up an hour earlier for work. 

Still way too much snow to be camping in the Adirondacks. I don’t mind tent camping along the East Branch of the Sacandaga in a few inches of snow but when you have two or three feet of snow there is no place to park much less pitch a tent. I’m find with waiting until it’s all but gone, and I can get my truck wired up for the summer. There is still plenty of camping season left for the year, including much longer days. 

In four weeks on March 30 the sun will be setting at 7:19 pm (Daylight Savings Time), which is 1 hour and 32 minutes later then today. In 2016 on that day, we had partly sunny skies and temperatures between 60 and 27 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 51 and 31 degrees. The record high of 86 degrees was set back in 1986.

Looking ahead, Start of June is in 13 weeks. Despite the cold weather, that is definitely a sign it will warm up again, probably sooner than later with all the climate change that is making spring more mild. 

The next few days will be pretty cool, with temperatures running 5-10 degrees below normal with a stiff breeze to keep people bundled up.  The next day we will hit fifty degrees will not be until next Tuesday. But it’s still early March, so colder weather is not unusual. The good news is that in four weeks — by the end of March — temperatures quickly moderate, and in the last three weeks of March, temperatures exceeding 80 degrees are not unheard of. By April 6th, a typical night no longer gets below freezing. And come June, it gets very nice out, as the black flies eat you alive.

Week	Date	Dawn	Sun- rise	Sun- set	Dusk	Day	Avg High	Avg Low	Record Hi	Record Low
0	March 2	5:59 am	6:27 am	5:47 pm	6:15 pm	11:19	39	21	65 (1991)	-4 (1940)
1	March 9	5:47 am	6:15 am	5:55 pm	6:23 pm	11:40	41	23	81 (2016)	-14 (1943)
2	March 16	6:35 am	7:03 am	7:03 pm	7:31 pm	12:00	44	26	82 (1990)	4 (1980)
3	March 23	6:23 am	6:51 am	7:12 pm	7:40 pm	12:20	47	28	80 (1938)	-4 (1875)
4	March 30	6:10 am	6:39 am	7:20 pm	7:48 pm	12:40	51	31	86 (1986)	7 (1970)
5	April 6	5:58 am	6:27 am	7:28 pm	7:56 pm	13:00	54	34	82 (1921)	14 (1943)
6	April 13	5:46 am	6:15 am	7:35 pm	8:05 pm	13:20	57	37	87 (1977)	19 (1874)
7	April 20	5:34 am	6:04 am	7:43 pm	8:13 pm	13:39	61	39	93 (1941)	19 (1875)
8	April 27	5:23 am	5:53 am	7:51 pm	8:22 pm	13:58	63	41	91 (1962)	26 (1963)
9	May 4	5:13 am	5:44 am	7:59 pm	8:30 pm	14:15	66	44	91 (1944)	28 (1985)
10	May 11	5:04 am	5:36 am	8:07 pm	8:39 pm	14:31	68	46	90 (1911)	29 (2010)
11	May 18	4:56 am	5:29 am	8:14 pm	8:47 pm	14:45	70	48	94 (1962)	29 (1981)
12	May 25	4:50 am	5:23 am	8:21 pm	8:54 pm	14:57	72	50	94 (1981)	30 (1956)
13	June 1	4:45 am	5:19 am	8:27 pm	9:01 pm	15:07	74	52	94 (1918)	35 (1945)
14	June 8	4:42 am	5:17 am	8:31 pm	9:06 pm	15:14	76	54	93 (2011)	38 (1951)
15	June 15	4:42 am	5:17 am	8:35 pm	9:10 pm	15:18	78	57	96 (1988)	42 (1985)
16	June 22	4:43 am	5:18 am	8:37 pm	9:12 pm	15:18	80	59	95 (1954)	37 (1940)

The winter fades away …

Ice melts…

Slowly but surely …

Spring returns …