kerrylewis

Having had a bit of a moan about the accuracy of the Clear Outside forecast for 15/6 when a lunar occultation was due, I suggested that I would study a few more nights. Here are the results I've looked at 8 more nights I only looked at nights and simply tried to assess whether there were likely to be clear spells or not. I did what I would normally do; i.e. look at forecasts in the evening, and I used the BBC weather app as comparison. Below is a summary and I have tried to sum up by 'scoring' 1 for accurate, 0.5 for partly accurate and 0 for inaccurate. 16/6 CO forecast: clear from midnightBBC: cloudy some thick Actual 22.00 complete cloud01.15 complete cloud04.00 thinning cloud c 50% BBC 1CO 0 17/6Forecast at 19.30CO completely clear now and all nightBBC partly cloudy until 00.00 then cloudyCurrently partly cloudy 75/80%Forecast at 22.00CO completely clearBBC partly cloudy than cloudy from 23.00Actual complete cloud03.00 complete cloudSlight rain o/night BBC 1CO 0 18/6Forecast at 19.30BBC clear till 2.00CO clear till 4.00Currently clear Night actual: clear BBC 1CO 1 19/6Forcast at 19.30BBC clear from 22.00 to 01.00 inclusive CO - low clouds through the night around 100% 2100 BBC showing clear 22.00 to 0100CO still showing cloudy Clear then clouded over just after 2300. Cloudy at 4.00 BBC 0CO 1 20/6Forecast at 1930BBC clear from 2300 all nightCO mainly clear from 2200 but 90% cloud 0200 and 0400 with lower amounts in between 00.00 Partly cloudy0200 mainly clear BBC 0.5CO 0.5 21/6Forecast at 2100BBC partly cloudy until 0200 then cloudyCO 25-50 % cloudy all nightCurrently almost totally cloudyCloudy 2200Cloudy 0200 BBC 1CO 1 22/6Forecast at 1930BBC partly cloudy all nightCO around 100% cloudy all night with clearer spell at 2.00Forecast at 2100 same for bothActual almost complete cloud2.00 complete cloud BBC 0CO 0 23/6 Forecast at 2000BBC partly cloudy all night but clear at 2200 and 0000CO clear at 2200 and from 0200 onward 2200 90% clear Actual BBC 1CO 1 Overall 'Scores' out of 8: BBC 5.5 and CO 4.5. Although after the 'glitches' of 15/6 and 16/6 and 17/6 things are much more even and CO is ahead. I hope this is usefulKerry

Ok Steve - I know it's free - I was being ironic or whatever. I can't seem to add the smiley faces from my ipad or I would! Cheers Kerry

It's a fair point Steve that it hasn't cost me much - but I was surprised that Saturday night's forecast was so completely out. Maybe I was grumpy about the football too! I promise that I will give it a longer trial by comparing the forecast with reality for each night that I can. I will then report back with lots of humble pie if required. Meanwhile, I can't fault the retailing! Cheers Kerry

Sorry guys but your forecast shows clear all night here and so far it's 100% cloud . I admire your guts in producing a weather forecast for astronomers but so far it's 'must do better' I'm afraid