December 19, 2016 Night

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Cold evening but very starry evening tonight again. While 11 degrees is warmer than the negative 19 we hit back in 1951, I certainly was cool hiking back from the library this evening. 

Getting up early tomorrow on my day off, so I can beat the outdoors plumbing repairs and get a jump on my day. Still chewing over going to Overlook Mountain or maybe somewhere else to watch the sun set. Going to be fairly cold out tomorrow. 

Working on some new maps and videos which will be posted over the next few days. 

Looking for after holiday specials on those laser projector lights. I know my mom hates them but I think they’re kind of cool and would be neat up in the woods camping. Light up the trees. They draw very little current from what I’ve read – some use less than a watt of power. Mom says they cause distraction to pilots but I think she’s been watching too much of the old foggie news channel where they mostly report on freak stories that are mostly made up to give old folks a chance to complain about the youth and their new ideas. I’m just impressed by how little electricity they really use.  

December 19, 2016 Evening

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Good evening! Mostly clear and 20 degrees in City of Albany. Calm wind. Cool but not unreasonable for Albany in the second half of December. Starry evening with the moon rising around 9.

Traffic is very light heading out of the city. Making good progress home. I was a bit annoyed that using my CDTA Navigator card once today when I misplaced my Swipper card triggered an auto buy but I guess I will eventually be using that stored value once my Swipper card expires on December 28th. The navigator card is so much better than paying with cash. It’s such a pain to have dollar bills and stored value change cards. 

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 11 degrees at 6am. 13 degrees below normal. Calm wind. In 2015, it got down to 26 degrees with periods of snow. The record low of -19 occurred back in 1951.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 56% illuminated. The moon will rise around 9:36 pm. The Last Quarter Moon is on tomorrow night with a slight chance of snow. 


Tomorrow will be sunny, with a high of 30 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees below normal. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had snow and a high of 38 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1957. 8.4 inches of snow fell back in 1975. The sun will rise at 7:21 am with the first light at 6:49 am, which is 33 seconds later then yesterday.

I decided to take tomorrow off from work. Not sure what I’m going to do, maybe hike Overlook Mountain. Or maybe go out to Partridge Run. I had to use up some vacation time before the end of the year and tomorrow looked quite sunny. I have the day off after Christmas as a holiday but that’s the last vacation day off for the year as New Years Day is celebrated on January 2, 2017 because New Years Eve and Day are regular weekend days. 

Things are looking good for the weekend. Christmas Eve will be partly sunny, with a high near 42. Christmas Day will be partly sunny, with a high near 41. Rain showers on the following Monday with temperatures around 43. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

In four weeks on January 16 the sun will be setting at 4:49 pm, which is 24 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had rain, snow and temperatures between 40 and 29 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 62 degrees was set back in 1995.

Donald Trump is officially elected  president. I guess it’s official with the electoral college vote. I knew it was inevitable with the Election Day vote but some how it’s more official now. 

Looking ahead, Martin Luther King Day is in 4 weeks, Obama’s Last Day is in 2 months, Presidents Day is in 9 weeks, Patriots Day is in 17 weeks, Average High is 60 is in 4 months, May Day is in 19 weeks and Memorial Day is in 23 weeks.