December 21, 2015 night

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Good evening. Another very pleasant evening around 46 degrees. I seriously though about sitting out back with a cold beer but I don’t have none. I was going to buy some but I decided I’ll just wait for Christmas Eve when I go shopping to pick some up. Laying on my bed is pretty comfortable too.

I have a feeling that camping on Christmas Day will be unbelievably nice for Christmas in New York State. Down south a lot of folks go out camping for Christmas but usually it’s cold and snowy around here this time of year. Full moon to boot. The weather in Brookfield looks to be clear on the evening of Christmas Day which will mean a beautiful full moon and the stars. I’ll have the Christmas lights going and will be listening to John Denver’s Rocky Mountain Christmas with my cowboy hat on.

Eight PM on Christmas Day in Brookfield is expected to be 42 degrees which is chilly for the city in mid-summer but unheard of in the mountains at the end of December. Between a roaring campfire and the Big Buddy heater keeping my back toasty, it will be a delightful evening, probably the most wonderful Christmas I’ve ever experienced in my life.

I’m super excited about camping on Christmas.

December 21, 2015 evening

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Good evening. 45 degrees with a cold breeze this afternoon. No rain so far this evening but rain showers remain a possibility throughout the evening. A better chance of rain come tomorrow.

Today was the shortest day of the year, being the winter solstice. Slowly at first the days will be getting longer. The mild winter really has given us a break but it still gets dark so early.

Looking forward to the long weekend and camping on Christmas. I wonder if I will see other people up in the woods. I certainly wouldn’t be shocked with the nice warm weather. It will be nice, especially now that I have that nice bright propane lantern.

Traffic is light heading out of city. It was a relatively quiet day today at work. Christmas week means a lot of people are off from work.

Christmas Evening Will Be Hot

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Wow! AccuWeather.com​ is calling for 72 degrees on Christmas Eve in Albany. If that happens, it will be warmest temperature ever recorded in December for Albany.

December 29, 1984 was 71 degrees, only recorded temp in 70s in December for Albany. December 6, 2001 was 68 in Albany, which is the second highest temperature ever recorded in Albany in December. The third hottest day in Albany in December is December 1, 1934 during the Great Depression when it hit 67 degrees.

Record high for Christmas Eve in Albany is 57 degrees.

The normal high for Christmas Eve is 33 degrees and the normal low is 18 degrees.

Sunset on the Winter Solstice

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Today’s sunset is at 4:24 PM.

As today is the first day of calendar winter, it is the shortest day of the year.

However, it is not the day with the earliest sunset. The earliest sunset of the year was December 6 through December 11, when the sunset at 4:21 PM.

Tomorrow will only be a fraction of a second longer, but we will be seeing a slightly later sunset, around 4:25 PM. We gain 4 seconds of daylight on Wednesday, then 18 seconds more daylight on Thursday. The length of day grows at an accelerating rate until we reach the first day of spring on March 21st.

Sunset on January 1st is 4:31 PM. By January 26th, the sunset will be at 5 PM. Civil twilight by January 1st already shifts to 5:04 PM, so we will have a little bit of light by the time you get out of work.