September 14, 2017 10 PM Update

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Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 70 degrees in Delmar. Calm wind. The dew point is 64 degrees. Feels more like summer this evening then the middle of summer. Despite the warm weather, its still pretty cloudy, and the sun sets early. The skies will clear tomorrow around 10 pm.

Tonight will be scattered showers and thunderstorms before 1am, then isolated showers between 1am and 4am. Patchy fog after midnight. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low of 61 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 10pm. Muggy!  Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2016, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 48 degrees. The record low of 33 occurred back in 1975.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon with 19% illuminated. The moon will rise tomorrow at 2:26 am. The New Moon is on Tuesday night with partly cloudy skies. The Hunter Moon is in 3 weeks. The sun will rise at 6:35 am with the first light at 6:07 am, which is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 11 hours and 30 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers between 9am and 11am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 79 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 12pm. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 71 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1915.

Still the forecast looks super nice for the weekend. Saturday, a chance of showers, mainly after 2pm. Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 81. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Maximum dew point of 67 at 4pm. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Maximum dew point of 65 at 4pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 72 degrees.

So the kayak is on the roof of my truck, and the dry goods are packed in the truck. Still working on packing the clothes and getting some of the other gear ready, but a lot of that can be done in the morning. The truck is all gassed up but I will need to stop either in the morning or on the way up to camp to buy firewood as I expect to be setting up close to dusk or maybe even after dark. I just rain to Stewart’s for milk but didn’t buy firewood because I didn’t want to have to carry it home. I do need to load the persishables, sweep the floor and take out the garbage before I go. That’s fine though, as I will have the electric cords up where I can quickly plug them in and light the campsite once I find a site to camp at.

I am very excited about exploring Moss Island on Saturday. I confirmed that the canal will still be open so I won’t have to worry about low water levels. I probably will hike Moss Island first then put in at the boat launch, and paddle around it. I’m undecided if I am going to go through a lock or not. My feeling is based on how short the days are, I probably won’t, but I might paddle downstream a short distance from Little Falls down by Finks Basin, and then up towards the falls. I hope to get some interesting video and picutres, especially now that I found my big camera once again.

Up on Piseco-Powley Road I’m hoping to get either the bridge site or better yet the site up in the plains. I am thinking with hunting season not really under way and with summer over, there will be a lot less people up there, but who knows with the nice weather. I mean, how often do you have 85 degree weather in mid-September? I’m glad we are finally going to get summer, now that September has rolled around, and that I have my kayak paddle so I can get back out on the water.

I do need to get back to Albany relatively early on Sunday, so I won’t have a lot of time to dilly dally around at the potholers. But if I get an early start, I should have enough time to enjoy my day, and enjoy those wonderful cold waters before winter fully kicks in and it’s too cold and the road is closed due to snow.

I wonder how much fall color I will see while I am up there. I heard on Facebook that there is already quite a bit of color, even if the maps put out by the state tourism bureau suggest elsewise. It turns out with the cool nights, that colors are popping out, even if this weekend is expected to be quite warm. I might go to Moose River Plains next weekend if the colors are nice. It will depend on the weather and what kind of family obligations I have. I might go the following week, otherwise. I probably will take off a day or two for a long weekend up at Moose River Plains.

I picked up a little Bluetooth Keyboard to use with my cellphone for typing longer blogposts. At first it took a while to get used to, and I’m not sure it really saves that much time over using the on screen keyboard, but it was only $20. I had originally planned on using my wireless keyboard with the dongle and the usb on the go adapter I bought, but I found that didn’t work right with my phone. But the Bluetooth keyboard works fine.I probably could have ordered the same thing for a bit cheaper online, but I wasn’t sure if it would work with my phone, for I figured with Walmart I could always return it if I couldn’t get it to work right. Works fine, but the keyboard layout is slightly different form my laptop, so it took a while to master. It is a bit lagging at times with the screen but I may be able to fix that by playing with the the settings a bit more.

Filled up the windshield Reservior and topped off the oil I my truck. I have plenty of gas now, so I should be ready for a good weekend adventure. I think I will take my contacts out shortly and retire to bed.

In four weeks on October 12 the sun will be setting at 6:16 pm, which is 48 minutes and 51 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 67 and 47 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 61 and 41 degrees. The record high of 85 degrees was set back in 1954.

Looking ahead, Autumn Begins is Next Friday and Average High is 40 is in 2 months.

The great nutrient collapse

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The great nutrient collapse

"Irakli Loladze is a mathematician by training, but he was in a biology lab when he encountered the puzzle that would change his life. It was in 1998, and Loladze was studying for his Ph.D. at Arizona State University. Against a backdrop of glass containers glowing with bright green algae, a biologist told Loladze and a half-dozen other graduate students that scientists had discovered something mysterious about zooplankton."

"Zooplankton are microscopic animals that float in the world’s oceans and lakes, and for food they rely on algae, which are essentially tiny plants. Scientists found that they could make algae grow faster by shining more light onto them—increasing the food supply for the zooplankton, which should have flourished. But it didn’t work out that way. When the researchers shined more light on the algae, the algae grew faster, and the tiny animals had lots and lots to eat—but at a certain point they started struggling to survive. This was a paradox. More food should lead to more growth. How could more algae be a problem?"

Lawsuit aims to end commercial fur trapping in California

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Lawsuit aims to end commercial fur trapping in California

"Conservation groups, aiming to end California’s dwindling fur trade, filed a lawsuit Wednesday that would force state wildlife authorities to raise license fees to levels required by law to cover the full costs of regulating the trapping, killing and skinning of wild animals.

That would drive the fees so high it would effectively kill off the trade introduced centuries ago by California’s first explorers and settlers, said Camilla Fox, executive director of Project Coyote, one of the plaintiffs."

Such a Tight Bridge

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The geometry of the bridge over Roaring Brook on your way up to Kelley Stand in Green Mountain National Forest is so tight, one must almost come to a complete stop to make the turn, especially on a big, long truck like mine.

September 14, 2017 8 AM Update

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Good morning! Happy Thursday. Next Thursday the Average High is 70. And the following day is the first day of autumn. Cloudy and 69 degrees in Delmar, NY. A break in the clouds earlier but now it’s gone. There is a south breeze at 6 mph. The dew point is 63 degrees. With the relatively high dew point, it feels like a damp mid-summer day. Like you might have on a cold, wet July day. The skies will clear tomorrow around 3 pm.

The air conditioning feels good on the bus because it was a but sticky when I awoke. It wasn’t a terrible walk down to the bus stop and the bus was running close to on time. Maybe a minute or two late but that’s not uncommon during the school year. Just a regular 40 foot bus downtown, not the big 75-person articulated bus that they have been running regularly on express route. There was a three car crash on the 9W bridge into the city and while there was minor tie ups, we got moving quickly. I’m just glad that I didn’t have to navigate it.

Today will have a slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 9am. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 75 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees above normal. I brought my rain coat to be safe. Going to be fairly humid day with a muggy maximum dew point of 66 at 11am. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 82 degrees. Pretty close to today but still much warmer than today. The record high of 93 was set in 1931.

The sun will set at 7:05 pm with dusk around 7:34 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for cloudy conditions and 70 degrees. The dew point will be 63 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 30 minutes of daytime, an decrease of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly before 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 62 degrees at 4am. 10 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 64 at 6pm. South wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2016, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 48 degrees. The record low of 33 occurred back in 1975.

Tonight I will get packed for heading up to the Adirondacks. I expect I will buy firewood tomorrow, because I won’t be able to get set up at camp until after dark. It will be dusk about the time I’m most of the way up there, but I’ll drive slow, keep my eye out for deer, and will make it up there safely. I don’t mind setting up in the dark, especially because I have the electric lights that are easy to set up, and can use the propane lantern for additional light when preparing dinner and getting the fire started.

I am definitely looking forward to exploring Moss Island on Saturday. Should be a nice weekend, with lots of warmth and sun. You don’t always get great weekends like this in September, but when you do you really got to take advantage of them.

As previously noted, next Thursday the Average High is 70 when the sun will be setting at 6:53 pm with dusk at 7:21 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 80 and 58 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 70 degrees. We hit a record high of 95 back in 1895.