Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Three weeks to 7 PM Sunset 🌆. Mostly cloudy and 15 degrees in Delmar. ☁ Calm wind.There are 4.5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 6 am. 🌡️

This morning when I walked down to Stewart’s to buy milk, ☕the air had a tinge of manure 🐮 and wood smoke on it,🔥during this most cloudy of mornings prior to the snow and ice coming down later. ☁ I don’t really live in the country any more but on the outskirts of the suburbs as they start to peter out to the countryside.

After getting milk and having a breakfast of frozen fruit🍛🍒🍌 and cereal I walked down to the express bus. 🚌 I actually didn’t end up needing the milk today, but maybe tomorrow. Bus was running a little late, which was fine, it showed up but then we hit more traffic heading into the plaza. I don’t care that much about it, I’m not driving.

Today will have a chance of snow, mainly after 3pm. Cloudy 🌨, with a high of 28 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees below normal. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1930. 11.2 inches of snow fell back in 1977.❄

I’ll take 63 degrees for sure any day now. We are due for a spring thaw anytime🌱 now, maybe a bit later this week although I doubt we will see the sixties anytime soon. But one can hope and maybe God will listen. Trump doesn’t believe in global warming after all. But winters aren’t nearly as cold as once where.

Looking forward to the Pine Bush dinner tonight,🍝 it should be really good with the lasagna and Ward Stone speaking. 🎤 He’s getting up there in the years, so who knows how many opportunities there will be able to hear him in the coming years. He’s an authority on many things, especially things that the state government finds particularly unpleasant like the Coeymans Blue Circle Plant, that was poisoning everything nearby with mercury, at least until they “fixed” the plant with a big upgrade.🏭 Blue Circle Cement, later known as LaFarge, was built because Governor Thomas Dewey gave them a big tax break to build the non-union plant, to break the cement strike in New York. But we don’t talk about the history anymore.

But actually, Ward Stone is coming to talk about another state proposal, re-powering the old ANSWERS incinerator to work as a micro-grid power plant, that will burn natural gas for generations to come, as the climate warms,  🌍 to heat and cool the Empire Plaza and other state office buildings, and also generate electricity for the buildings, as an alternative to grid power — and act as a “jump start pack” for the electric grid, which may become more unstable 🔌 both when the climate becomes more unstable and more renewables are put on it.

Times change, and sometimes opportunities that once existed suddenly. So definitely come to the Pine Bush dinner, before it’s late. 🍽  6 PM tonight is the dinner, 7 PM is the free lecture. I think the dinner costs like $12 but I usually end up throwing in $15 or $20 for it.  Should be a great evening.

The sun will set at 5:34 pm with dusk around 6:02 pm, which is one minute and 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for snow showers 🌨 and temperatures around 27 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be periods of snow and sleet before 11pm, then periods of sleet between 11pm and midnight, then periods of freezing rain after midnight. 🌧 Low of 26 degrees at 6pm. Sounds like it could be pretty icy later. Well the bus will get me home from the Pine Bush dinner so I’m not that worried about it. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 16th. South wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than one inch possible. In 2018, we had mostly clear in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 40 degrees. The record low of -10 occurred back in 2015.

Tomorrow will have a chance of rain and sleet before 7am, then a chance of rain between 7am and 10am. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 47 degrees at 2pm. 11 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around March 22nd. Breezy, with a south wind 6 to 11 mph becoming west 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no sleet accumulation expected. Not sure if tomorrow I’ll be walking down to the Park and Ride. A year ago, we had mostly sunny in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 73 was set in 2018. 11.0 inches of snow fell back in 1929.❄

Last night’s commute wasn’t too bad. 🚗🚗🚗🚃🚌🚐🚒🚚🚛 Traffic actually was pretty light due to the holiday weekend. I thought about cooking up some pasta for dinner, but decided on fish sticks and broccoli, as I wanted something different, as tonight is the Save the Pine Bush Dinner. 🐟 Laid back for a while, ate dinner, then hopped on the exercise bike. Really wasn’t that hungry,

Then I thought about going down to the library but decided that it would be a would be nice to go for a walk in the evening around 8 pm. 🚶In the meantime I decided to ride the exercise bike for an hour while listening to Fresh Air podcast with Andrew McCabe formerly of the FBI and then a video about about Core Memory. 🎧 I heard it first on the radio starting, but put on the podcast, so I could listen over my bluetooth headphones while on the bike. I’ll have to ask my neighbor if he can hear the rumble of the bike the next time I see him, but I try not to ride the bike much after 8:30 most nights.

Around 8:30 I went for my evening walk under the beautiful snow moon. 🌕 No problem walking in the darkness, plenty of light and the sidewalks were free of ice and snow for the most part. Pretty night but fairly cold but at least the wind had died down. 🍃 It was cold, but not that cold. That said, I’m certainly looking forward to nicer weather, sitting out back with a cold glass of orange juice 🍊 or maybe ice water with a drop of lemon juice in it.🍋

Came home and laid in bed watching a few YouTube videos🎥 I had previously downloaded, one about thermal storage of heat, 🔥 one about stocking rate of cattle on ranches, 🐮and one about off grid living. Then I took my contacts out and retired for the night. 👁I do like how the lights automatically remind me when it’s time for bed, automatically dimming at 10:10 pm😴. It really helps when you get to bed at a proper hour for boosting your sleep. I always try to bed down by the time the lights start dimming at 10:10 pm. It really is a good reminder.

I am definitely looking forward to those longer nights in a month with dusk not being until after 7:30 pm🕗 and hopefully for some warmer nights when I can sit out back, looking up at the stars. ✨ Usually I work on a blog post out back in the warmer weather, although now that I’ve built a system for downloading videos, I might actually watch one of the videos from the channels I’ve downloaded. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of staring at a screen, but I listen to them, and are learning a lot about many different topics, expanding my knowledge and hopefully my future.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 41. Sunday, rain likely before 1pm, then showers likely, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 48. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Typical average high for the weekend is 37 degrees.

NOAA seems to think this weekend will be quite sunny, at least for the Save the Pine Bush hike. I am not sure I totally agree, but it will be mild for the ski trip. 🎿I know Sunday still looks to be quite wet, which looks like it will melt the snow, hopefully melting it away the rain and not turning to ice. I am a bit worried about ice again, so if your joining us, bring your microspikes. Skis might not work well.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until 7 PM Sunset 🌆 with dusk at 7:27 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2018, we had snow and temperatures between 34 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 43 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2012.

In four weeks on March 20 the sun will be setting at 7:07 pm (Daylight Savings Time),🌄 which is one hour, 33 minutes and 49 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had cold, partly sunny and temperatures between 37 and 15 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 46 and 27 degrees. The record high of 78 degrees was set back in 2012.

Looking ahead, 7 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 3 weeks, May 🕊 is in 10 weeks, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is in 15 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 23 months.