Good evening! Partly cloudy and 55 degrees in City of Albany. There is a southeast breeze at 5 mph. The skies will clear Wednesday around noontime.

Taking the 8:15 PM bus home, so by the time I get home, I’ll probably just watch the PBS Newshour and turn out the lights. I did walk a few blocks to the bus stop this evening, maybe later in the week I’ll get out walking more.  Then I plan to retire to bed by 9 PM or so. I like to get to bed earlier and get more sleep, as I feel much more awake and alert at work. I guess I could drink a beer or two outback, although I really don’t have much except a few remaining bottles of Corona. It’s been sitting in the truck so it might be warm but I guess I could stick it in the snow bank.

Walking outside to the Capitol today, I was thinking I can’t wait to get back to the wilderness and enjoying a nice evening by the fire. The warmth of the mid afternoon felt so nice, reaching up to 65 degrees.

I thought it was a pretty good day. Not too crazy but also not so quiet that things were boring. That said, I’m glad it’s over and I’m heading home. I look forward to getting home at a reasonable hour and nice enough.

Tonight will rain, mainly after 1am. Low of 48 degrees at 4am. 14 degrees above normal. Southeast wind 5 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. I can see the rain to the south of us. It will help melt away the snow. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 18 degrees with periods of fog and snow. The record low of 14 occurred back in 1954.

First Quarter Moon tonight with 53% illuminated. The moon will set around 2:41 am. The Full “Pink” Moon is on Tuesday, April 11th. The sun will rise at 6:31 am with the first light at 6:03 am, which is one minute and 43 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 11 hours and 5 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will rain and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly before 5pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 5pm. High of 48 degrees at 6am. Five degrees below normal. Southeast wind 10 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had fog, snow and a high of 26 degrees. The record high of 79 was set in 1950. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 2016.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. Saturday, a chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 50. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 56. The forecast on Sunday looks quite nice for early April I must admit. Typical average high for the weekend is 55 degrees.

In four weeks on May 1 the sun will be setting at 7:56 pm, which is 31 minutes and 51 seconds later then today. In 2016 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 54 and 44 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 65 and 43 degrees. The record high of 86 degrees was set back in 2001. As much as I hate the black flies, I can’t wait until we have some nicer weather. Black flies retire at dusk, so it will be nice.

Looking ahead, Patriots Day is in 2 weeks, May Day is in 4 weeks, Memorial Day is in 8 weeks and Election Day 2020 is in 42 months.

Better bring your umbrella tomorrow — which proved to be unnecessary today. I’m pretty sure it will be required by the time of tomorrow’s commute.