Clear Skies Diary S Wales 2013

[stevetynant]

I think its proprietry Gaz - I seem to remember in the forums though many people trying to export the raw data into Cumulas so I don't think your missing anything in that respect - quite the opposite really.

[stevetynant]

Day 7 7th January 2013 Observable nights 2013 0 / 7 Rain during day 5/7 Snow during day 0/7

Group Observing Session planned 1 Group Observing Session Cancelled 1 100% (Weather related only)

Lowest Temperature recorded during 2013 4.5 C 1st Jan 2013 09:00

Highest Temperature recorded during 2013 12.0 C 3rd Jan 2013 13:00

Personal Observing sessions - zero

Still amazing me how the temperature is hardly fluctuating day or night at the moment but I've a feeling in the next few days that is going to change and our opportunities will be to hand. For the time being though still a waiting game as the air pressure is noticeably dropping - meaning more clouds, probably rain but keep the faith we're nearly on the outside of it.

[stevetynant]

Day 8 8th January 2013 Observable nights 2013 0 /8 Rain during day 6/8 Snow during day 0/8

Consecutive Non Observable nights 8 (starting 1st Jan 2013) Record Consecutive Non Observable Nights 8 (1st Jan to 8th Jan 2013)

Group Observing Session planned 2 Group Observing Session Cancelled 1 100% (Weather related only)

Lowest Temperature recorded during 2013 4.5 C 1st Jan 2013 09:00

Highest Temperature recorded during 2013 12.0 C 3rd Jan 2013 13:00

Personal Observing sessions - zero

Big changes on the way guys - record temperature falls for 2013 on the horizon, snow days quite possible opening its score soon and not going away any time soon. Personally not too optimistic about Saturday reading the forums at the moment but fingers crossed.

[stevetynant]

Day 9 9th January 2013 Observable nights 2013 1 / 9 Rain during day 6/9 Snow during day 0/9 1st observing chance this year

Consecutive Non Observable nights 0 (starting 9th Jan 2013) Record Consecutive Non Observable Nights 8 (1st Jan to 8th Jan 2013)

Group Observing Session planned 2 Group Observing Session Cancelled 1 50% (Weather related only)

Lowest Temperature recorded during 2013 2.3 C 9th Jan 2013 18:00 NEW LOW TEMPERATURE FOR 2013

Highest Temperature recorded during 2013 12.0 C 3rd Jan 2013 13:00

Personal Observing sessions - zero (still full of flu and now have a ear infection aswel - typical)

Well here we are folks the first observing chance of 2013 . Theres big changes afoot on the weather front and we could be heading into some prolonged cold and next week very cold weather wIth the possibility of the white stuff to come. What a pleasure it is just to look up and see the stars.

[stevetynant]

Day 10 10th January 2013 Observable nights 2013 1 /10

Rain during day 7/10 Snow during day 0/9

Consecutive Non Observable nights 1 (starting 10th Jan 2013) Record Consecutive Non Observable Nights 8 (1st Jan to 8th Jan 2013)

Consecutive Observable nights 0 (starting X 2013) Record Consecutive Observable Nights 1 (9th Jan to 9th Jan 2013)

Group Observing Session planned 2 Group Observing Session Cancelled 1 50% (Weather related only)

Lowest Temperature recorded during 2013 0.5 C 9th Jan 2013 18:00 NEW LOW TEMPERATURE FOR 2013

Highest Temperature recorded during 2013 12.0 C 3rd Jan 2013 13:00

I think I'm pretty safe making an early call on tonight's prospects - welcome back to the beautiful Welsh winter 2013

[Matthew]

Never mind Steve looking at the forecast for next week you should get the chance to post more positive observations

[stevetynant]

Gutted i missed last night matt. Still full of flu and it looked great outside.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[stevetynant]

Day 11 11th January 2013 Observable nights 2013 1 /11

Rain during day 8/11 Snow during day 0/11

Consecutive Non Observable nights 2 (starting 10th Jan 2013) Record Consecutive Non Observable Nights 8 (1st Jan to 8th Jan 2013)

Consecutive Observable nights 0 (starting X 2013) Record Consecutive Observable Nights 1 (9th Jan to 9th Jan 2013)

Group Observing Session planned 2 Group Observing Session Cancelled 2 100% (Weather related only)

Lowest Temperature recorded during 2013 0.5 C 9th Jan 2013 18:00

Highest Temperature recorded during 2013 12.0 C 3rd Jan 2013 13:00

Personal Observing sessions - zero

I woke up and peered outside the window this morning at about 5am -the sky was stunningly clear - how cruel is this hobby?

Cold weather for the foreseeable now - which is better than the vile damp drizzly days we've been having I suppose - got my half price snow shovel from Asda yesterday just in case.

[stevetynant]

Day 12 12th January 2013 Observable nights 2013 1 /12

Rain during day 9/12 Snow during day 1/12

Consecutive Non Observable nights 3 (starting 10th Jan 2013) Record Consecutive Non Observable Nights 8 (1st Jan to 8th Jan 2013)

Consecutive Observable nights 0 (starting X 2013) Record Consecutive Observable Nights 1 (9th Jan to 9th Jan 2013)

Group Observing Session planned 2 Group Observing Session Cancelled 2 100% (Weather related only)

Lowest Temperature recorded during 2013 - 0.4 C 13th Jan 2013 18:00 NEW LOW TEMP FOR 2013

Highest Temperature recorded during 2013 12.0 C 3rd Jan 2013 13:00

Astro Panel showing a good chance to Observe Monday night but more especially Tuesday Night although this seems somewhat at odds with the Met Office Forecast- fingers crossed

Personal Observing sessions - zero

Winter finally gets into full swing although cruelly after last nights meet was cancelled the skies in the early hours of the morning were Crystal Clear. Snow and extreme temperatures expected across Britain for much of this week - the exception sounds like S Wales where for the most part we will miss any significant snow but that could change at the end of the week though this looks like a prolonged period of cold. For the end of the week we "could" see significant change - heres one of the posts of the more "enthusiastic" amature metrologists I follow (these things change very quickly however so don't go raiding the local supermarket just yet)

Anyway - models now showing cold/snow - and major amounts of snow for us in Wales - come the end of this week - Friday/Saturday/Sunday - FEET OF SNOW - temps bomb down to -6 or -7 or below before an attempt by the atlantic to move fronts in - as it tries to move against the cold air it'll stall and dump all it's whitey goodness all over Wales - loads of the stuff - so much so we are going to be crippled - this is my prediction - save this post if you like - lets see if I've got it right - but FEET OF SNOW is what we are gonna have - it's gonna be quite BIBLICAL! LOL

[garethmob]

?? Lol all I can see is emointions. In guessing observing? Lol

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk please ignore any spelling typo thingys

[stevetynant]

Thats odd isn't it Gaz- on the PC I can see it as it was posted but on my phone I can just see the text then 4 Gifs - yes emoticons lol

[garethmob]

I did have a message the other day saying the tappatalk plugin is out of date on the forum.......

That weather prediction sounds interesting

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk please ignore any spelling typo thingys

[stevetynant]

I've seen it so many times though - they trawl through all the synoptic outputs until theres relative agreement , get all excited then the day before everything changes - time and time again. However what there is agreement on is the sustained periods of cold whether over the next few weeks and when theres cold air mass about we're right in the firing line in the West when the Atlantic breaks through (and usually wins which is where the rain comes in)

Quite optimistic this week though of getting at least one observing night happening and I'm getting out flu or not - Orion is getting tantalizingly high in the sky outside my house now- nice to revisit it again.

[stevetynant]

Day 13 13th January 2013 Observable nights 2013 1 /13

Rain during day 9/13 Snow during day 2/13

Consecutive Non Observable nights 4 (starting 10th Jan 2013) Record Consecutive Non Observable Nights 8 (1st Jan to 8th Jan 2013)

Consecutive Observable nights 0 (starting X 2013) Record Consecutive Observable Nights 1 (9th Jan to 9th Jan 2013)

Group Observing Session planned 2 Group Observing Session Cancelled 2 100% (Weather related only)

Lowest Temperature recorded during 2013 - 0.4 C 13th Jan 2013 18:00

Highest Temperature recorded during 2013 12.0 C 3rd Jan 2013 13:00

Astro Panel showing a good chance to Observe Monday night but Tuesday Night now looks more cloudy - BBC Forecast showed a good opportunity Wed / Thurs but the weekend is possibly snow.

Personal Observing sessions - zero

Cold damp and Orange outside at the moment.

[garethmob]

uv got it easy steve lowest iv had at present is this morning -2.4 at 8 - 9 am lol about 3mm of snow out there atm too

[stevetynant]

I'm wondering Gaz weather the temperature measurements are a little on the warm side because the car thermometer quite often shows sub zero and theres always about a 2c difference between Ystrad Mynach and where I live - never mind I'll persevere and take some further readings with another device I have to check how out it is - if it is at all .

I've been fancying one of those Davis Vues but their the best part of £500 - hard to sneak that one past the boss.

[garethmob]

them davies ones do look nice, i looked before i bought mine, and mine was only at the "right price" (£39 instead of 80) so more for astro but i bet it would be hard expess as its perminant out side:P

interesting the temp diff mines at 2.4 at present (18:15) and dropping

[stevetynant]

2.8 at 18:57 Gaz - checked with the car earlier though and is only .1 degree difference? Is yours affected by wind chill perhaps?

[garethmob]

2.1 but i am on the tip of whilie mountain and in my car i usally get up to 0.5 - 1 degree difference from the main road through maesy to me, but you might be correct, iv got cumulas running 24/7 with it, my wind chill is also 2.1...... with an average trend of -0.8 an hour currently

mine is currently being blocked / wind being funnled directly to it by an artic parked right outside so that might be doing it

[stevetynant]

lots of things affect it Gaz but their only amature instruments after all - just caught your post on net weather mate- nice to have a fellow astronomer on board- its great in there this time of year everyones getting excited by whats possiblty to come- 80% of the rest of the year its dead with only drizzle to report on but for the next few months is well worth keeping an eye on.

[stevetynant]

still considering whether to award tonight as an observable night or not - the criteria I set myself was an hours observing. I've been out the back a few times and its stunning then the wind blows the clouds in - then the same wind clears them away and its beautiful again - oops here they come again and so the cycle seems to continue. Astropanel has it 75% cloud by 9pm but clear at 6am in the morning so might get 5 minutes before I get to work.

[stevetynant]

Day 14 14th January 2013 Observable nights 2013 1 /14

Rain during day 10/14 Snow during day 3/14

Consecutive Non Observable nights 5 (starting 10th Jan 2013) Record Consecutive Non Observable Nights 8 (1st Jan to 8th Jan 2013)

Consecutive Observable nights 0 (starting X 2013) Record Consecutive Observable Nights 1 (9th Jan to 9th Jan 2013)

Group Observing Session planned 2 Group Observing Session Cancelled 2 100% (Weather related only)

Lowest Temperature recorded during 2013 - 0.4 C 13th Jan 2013 18:00

Highest Temperature recorded during 2013 12.0 C 3rd Jan 2013 13:00

Astro Panel showing clear skies if you fancy it from about 3am this morning - there after not looking to good at all

Personal Observing sessions - zero

I think this is where the subjectivity of this record comes in - when I came home tonight the skies were clear but within 10 minutes had clouded over - then just as quickly cleared up to be followed by more cloud and eventually snow by around 9pm. Although on times the sky was quite stunning in the cold air it never lasted long enough to feel confident in getting the scope and gear out so for tonight this has been a non observing night (again)

FRIDAY / SATURDAY STILL HAS THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY SNOW IN WALES - followed by a brief mild spell as it turns to rain then back into the freezer by mid next week. Might want to think about a trip to Asda on Wednesday night if this varifies.

[stevetynant]

Just going to bed and took a last look outside, wow beautiful clear night outside once again.two beautiful red stars in the sky right opposite each other, I think its betelguese and adabaron with Orion right out in front, what a site.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[stevetynant]

How appalling is my spelling?

[garethmob]

spelling? lol most likely my dyslexia is kicking in, but i cant see any spelling mistakes?