Checking the weather...

[Mansnake]

Hi guys,

Down here on Norwich its just pure cloud !! . (I jst brought some celestron 10x50 bins so i guess its my fault really)

My question is, when checking the weather what am i really looking for to find out if viewing is going to be possible ?

I know there are sites like 7timer and obviously MET office etc... but is there a clear cut way of finding out ?

Cheers!

[sologuitarist61]

Nope, not really. I have a £500 weather station at the bottom of my garden but to be honest am no nearer to finding out what the weather will be! On top of which the weather changes in unpredictable ways - some times a cloudy day will clear as the sun goes down, but then again a cloudless day can become cloudy at sunset. Really weather forecasts are generalisations and give you what the weather will probably be like over a large area, but things can still change within the area.

[DazC]

Hi Lewis,

I use a few different apps on my android phone and cross ref them. Sometimes they say the same sometimes not. It's a bit of a mine field to be fair.

I use met office, acuweather and have just recently been told about one called astro panel.

Good luck.

D.C

[Mansnake]

yea i have the astro panel app and MET office. i think astro panel is just info taken from 7timer.

What i dont get with 7timer is the blue circle (cake) that signifies cloud cover is all blue which is the least cloud but the blue circle that signifies seeing is big (worse)

how can seeing be worse if there is least cloud cover ?

[iwatkins]

You can be totally cloud free but have poor seeing. Seeing is a measure of stability of the air you look through. Have a Google for "astronomical seeing".

Cheers

Ian

[SFlowers]

It doesn't seem to matter what websites say, they say cloud and it's clear or it's going to be clear and there's cloud. Then when it is clear we go out into the garden and get set up then next door turn on their security light aaarrgghhh

[sologuitarist61]

It doesn't seem to matter what websites say, they say cloud and it's clear or it's going to be clear and there's cloud. Then when it is clear we go out into the garden and get set up then next door turn on their security light aaarrgghhh

Yeah, been there!!

[Viv]

I use sat24 allot.

It gives actual cloud movement & an hour / hour & half prediction, as to where it's going.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have a rule. If its clear for 2 hrs solid after sunset then the chances of it being clear all night are very good. It works for me 50% of the time.

So about as much good as a weather forcast.

[pete_l]

All I can say is that if it's been clear all day, there's a fair chance it'll be clear at night. If it's been cloudy all day then expect a night in front of the telly.

I spent a lot of time analysing BBC 5-day weather forecasts for my post-code and I came to the conclusion that they manage to get "next day" right about 50% of the time, the day after 25% and so on.

For anything more than 1 day ahead, the forecast was irrelevant.

[pajr777]

I've been using the radar from the Met Office the last couple of nights as most of the cloud has been rain cloud - worked quite well, I could see the rain come further south than predicted the night before last so it was a wash out, and last night I saw the rain clear up a few hours before it was forecast too so my session started at 2130 instead of 2300.

But hardly relying on a forecast though, more like using a tool to observe current local conditions and reacting accordingly! Over my couple of months in the hobby I've learnt to take good sessions when they come and don't fret too much if it doesn't work out - and that includes bad weather spoiling planned sessions, and great weather appearing when you have other commitments that preclude a late night at the eye piece

[skywatcher250]

(I jst brought some celestron 10x50 bins so i guess its my fault really)

and mine ! my new 10x50 just came to !!!!!

First Light Optics - Opticron Imagic TGA WP Porro Prism

sorry everyone...

clear skies (hopefully)

[LukeSkywatcher]

All I can say is that if it's been clear all day, there's a fair chance it'll be clear at night.

So not true.

Most of my clear days here on the east coast of Ireland turn cloudy at sunset.