A beautiful day at the Aerie

We had a beautiful day today. Getting up at 6 AM to go get breakfast a McD's before we went birding. The temp at the Aerie was a comfortable 43 degrees but as we got down to the bottom of the valley, those digits were reversed to 34 and there was signs of frost on the lawns. (Gary, our bird watching friend who lives over near Hills Creek State Park, reported he had a thin layer of ice on his bird bath!)

We climbed out of the valley on the north side to reach the Fire Tower and the temperatures rose again to around 45 degrees. I guess the old adage of cold air sinking was proven correct.Of course, if there had been any breeze blowing, all the mixing would have prevented the frosts in the valley.

We enjoyed our morning of bird watching and socializing with the others in our group, but came away from the morning of peering into the tree tops with stiff necks and aching backs. I, therefore, declared a semi-holiday on the step work. By "semi-holiday" I mean that I didn't do more than pick up the gravel and rebar I will need to finish the job (after I carve out two more steps) tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, tonight sounds like it's going to be a repeat of last night with the temperatures falling to the low 30's, no cloud cover and virtually no breeze. Should be good sleeping weather but those folks who may have put in their garden down in the valley had better go cover their plants. The National Weather Service out of State College has issued another frost warning for north-central PA:

MAINLY CLEAR SKIES AND CALM WINDS TONIGHT WILL ALLOW THE TEMPERATURES TO DIP INTO THE LOWER AND MID 30S ACROSS THE REGION. THIS WILL ALLOW AREAS OF FROST TO FORM. LOWS TONIGHT SHOULD BE A FEW DEGREES MILDER THAN LAST NIGHT... AND MOST IF NOT ALL LOCATIONS WILL REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING. BUT...

Perhaps tomorrow I'll get to sleep in if Chester's stomach doesn't cause the alarm to go off. At any rate, I don't have to get up at 6 AM to go across the county. And if it stays cool, I'll be pretty comfortable working on the steps.

Y'all stay warm now, y'hear.