Good evening! Sunny and 36 degrees in City of Albany. There is a west-northwest breeze at 13 mph. A rather cool evening for late March, but one must enjoy the sunlight before we get stuck with a week of ample rain. At least that should help the snow melt away. 

The sun will set at 7:11 pm with dusk around 7:39 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly clear conditions and 31 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 8 mph.

Bus was running a little bit late this evening because Interstate 787 was backed up onto the South Mall Arterial but traffic southbound on 787 so we are making up time. You can complain about the dirty snow and the cold but skies are quite blue without clouds but they aren’t expected to last. 

Tonight will have increasing clouds, with a low of 19 degrees at 11pm. 10 degrees below normal. West wind 6 to 11 mph becoming light and variable. In 2016, it got down to 33 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of 0 occurred back in 1875. Warming up at the night progresses but we will still see some snow, ice and road salt come the morning. 

Waning Crescent Moon tonight with 26% illuminated. The moon will rise around 2:51 am. The New Moon is on Tuesday night with chance of rain expected. The Full “Pink” Moon is on Tuesday, April 11th. The sun will rise at 6:50 am with the first light at 6:22 am, which is one minute and 45 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 11 hours and 37 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have snow, freezing rain, and sleet likely before noon, then rain, freezing rain, and sleet between noon and 1pm, then rain likely after 1pm. High of 40 degrees at 6pm. Seven degrees below normal. South wind 8 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than one inch possible. A year ago, we had rain and a high of 59 degrees. The record high of 69 was set in 1976. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. Saturday, a chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 47. Light and variable wind becoming north around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Not a wash out.  Sunday, freezing rain likely before 8am, then a chance of rain between 8am and 5pm, then a chance of drizzle after 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 48 degrees. Hopefully we will get some good soaking rains that melt the snow and reduce the fire risks. 

In four weeks on April 20 the sun will be setting at 7:43 pm, which is 31 minutes and 59 seconds later then today. In 2016 on that day, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 62 and 42 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 61 and 39 degrees. The record high of 93 degrees was set back in 1941.

Looking ahead, Start of June is in 10 weeks. At one level that seems like a long ways away but I know time goes by quickly and it will be here before one realizes. 

Tomorrow morning, we will be waking up to a sloppy commute, with a mix of snow and ice turning to rain by afternoon. The rain will continue on and off through the weekend into next week. Temperatures are expected to moderate over the weekend to close to normal, although we have to watch for periods of freezing rain through the next week. I am not sure if you can say March will be leaving us like a lamb, at least not an ice-covered lamb that smells like wet wool.

There is a lot of sun this morning, but definitely still fairly chilly for late March with temperatures around 23, climbing to 37 later. Breezy throughout the day but at least lots of sun. With the snow though, I wasn’t seriously contemplating going to the park at any rate after work. Eventually thought it will get nice enough to head down to the park.

I had the darnest time getting going this morning, even though I killed the lights by nine and it was a sunny morning. Many mornings I wake up around five and open the shades but not today. I miss those evenings in the woods around the campfire and waking up to fresh air in my bedroom. I think summer will make sleeping so pleasurable — even on those hot and sticky evenings we sometimes get.

The sun will set at 7:12 pm with dusk around 7:40 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 12 hours and 20 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Every day we will get closer to the summer, now that we are ten weeks away from June. At some point the snow will melt and I’ll be able to get up to the Adirondacks. I am hoping they stock the Sacandaga River with trout fairly early this year, although I suspect it will be a while before Pumpkin Hollow Road will be open all the way to the campsites. But I can always stop there on the way back from camping in other parts of the Adirondacks.

Tonight will have increasing clouds, with a low of 18 degrees at 12am. 11 degrees below normal. Light and variable wind. In 2016, it got down to 33 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of zero occurred back in 1875. It doesn’t get that cold in late March.

Tomorrow will be sloppy. Rain and snow in the morning changing to rain showers late. High 44. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. At least it won’t be another big snow storm and the rain we are expected to get through the weekend should help melt the snow away.

As previously mentioned, there are 10 weeks until Start of June when the sun will be setting at 8:27 pm with dusk at 9:01 pm. On that day in 2016, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 85 and 57 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 74 degrees. We hit a record high of 94 back in 1918.