Dumbbell with clouds

[pixueto]

Dear all,

Forgive me if this isn't the right place to put this but I am really interested in knowing what my fellow imagers have to say about it.

It was a clear afternoon here in SE London, it was a bit windy though. I thought, should I get the scope out? Checked the weather for my area in yahoo weather and it said that a clear night was to be expected; no clouds and the wind disappearing.

Got My kit out, got the laptop and everything ready for guiding (it all takes me a good 45 mins) and then the wind picks up and the clouds start to roll in.

As this isn't the first time that something like that happens to me I was wondering what sites you check for weather forecast. Any of them reliable enough?

Many tanks for your help.

[Moonshane]

welcome to a normal night's astronomy in the UK!

I use www.sat24.com which seems OK

[steppenwolf]

Yup, sounds about normal to me - the only weather forecast that I rely on is my patented back-door peek forecast, this gives me a realtime view of the current sky and I then make a guestimate for my chances of a good cloud-free session.

If you do find a good reliable forecasting site, please let us all know!

[Black Knight]

My own experience would be that no forecasting site gets anywhere near a 100% record. The most reliable method as far as I can tell is to combine Sat24 with the old MK I eyeball. The Met Office gets a fair bit of stick, but it seems to me they are no worse than anyone else out there. I use the actual Met Office site - not so much for their forecasts, but for their recorded observations. When you play back recent satellite observations (they are recorded at 15 minute intervals), it can give you a fair idea of the way things are going, and whether they are coming in your direction ! A bit like Sat24 really, but with a bit more granularity. And able to show stuff like IR with rain, lightning, wind and gusts.

http://www.metoffice...ations/?tab=map

[Gina]

good link - thank you

[pixueto]

Thank you!