Bad weather for nearly two weeks?(Kent)

[thegman2]

hi all, my second post and needed a topic but didnt know where to put it.

What on earth is going on with the weather? I havent had a clear or fair sky for two weeks now. Is anyone else from kent had this or have they managed to get a decent night out? I have been checking the weather on the news and going outside every night but its all been awful even when the weather said it wasnt. I live in a dark area of Ashford, kent and have never had such a bad run of weather for astro viewing...

[upahill]

Seems a lot of people are suffering at the moment, the weather being particularly bad all over.

I had clear skies at about 1am, but in the time it took me to setup and wrap warmly it had clouded over completely again.

Hopefully spring/summer will bring some clearer skies.

[Pig]

Hiya - the weather is poor to say the least, Northampton does not seem to be as badly affected as some places as I have manged the odd hours here and there. I have only had my scope for 6 months so I dont have any history to compare with but most peeps on here have said it hasnt been this poor for some time. I love the hobby and think the trade off is worth it although it would be great to get at least a few viewings per week

[Astro_Baby]

Try living in Surrey, we have had two MONTHS of cloud, closer to three actually.

[stevetynant]

I'm keeping a record of this in 2013 and in S Wales at least there has not been a period of more than 9 days when there was not a chance to observe - it seems a lot more anecdotaly but actually its not as bad as it may seem - and S Wales I would guess is one of the wettest parts of Britain.

[Bart]

I got out 3 nights in one week last month, other than that its been pretty bad here! There have been a couple others but our nearest neighbour meant no dark sky!

Barry

[Stargazer_00]

Sun was up this morning. Got up and was observing it within 10 minutes. Barely anything going on on its surface this morning though so not much to look at.

[astro mick]

hi all, my second post and needed a topic but didnt know where to put it.

What on earth is going on with the weather? I havent had a clear or fair sky for two weeks now. Is anyone else from kent had this or have they managed to get a decent night out? I have been checking the weather on the news and going outside every night but its all been awful even when the weather said it wasnt. I live in a dark area of Ashford, kent and have never had such a bad run of weather for astro viewing...

Wow only 2 weeks,like Astro-Baby,try 3 months,here on the Yorkshire East Coast its been dire.

Think yourself lucky,but hope it improves for you.(Looks good for the West again to-night,but not for the East.)

Mick.

[thegman2]

Well at least i know its not only me then. Like some have said the hobby really is worth it but if i do not get out at least once a week i get anoyed. I was out all last night hoping that there would be a chance but nope. Looking at the weather in my area its going to be bad for 3 more days at least.

[fredster]

There has been odd chances to get out over the last few weeks but they have amounted to no more than an hour or so here and there. As someone else said, no sooner do you get the scope setup, put on the thermals (because they are still needed) and get outside, it then clouds over within minutes. I think if you did a chart it probably wouldn't look as bad as we make out. But numbers and charts rarely give a true account of how things are. I'm certainly not going to set the alarm for 1am, 2am etc because the forecast says a 1 hour spell is due.

Even when it has cleared the seeing has been plain awful and transparency poor.

This can't go on forever.......can it?

[JamesF]

I've not kept track of how Steve is measuring "observable nights", but I think the definition varies for each of us according to our circumstances. A clear spell of three hours between 11pm and 2am may well be useful to someone who isn't working the following day, but it's not that helpful if you have to get up at 6am to go to work on very little sleep. In my case anything before 9pm isn't particularly good because we have children to be helped with homework, fed, ferried to and from cubs/brownies and threatened with a sound thrashing if they don't go to bed etc.

It has been dire here for ages. From my office window I can usually see most of the northern part of the Quantock hills which aren't more than ten miles away. The cloud has been so dense and low that I've not seen them for several weeks. The cloud has lifted a little this morning after last night's snow, but it's still very hazy and the hills are no more than a vague blue-grey band whereas normally I can pick out trees and hedge lines. I'm going to give a white light solar shot a go in a moment, but I'm not particularly hopeful of a good result.

James

[stevetynant]

"I've not kept track of how Steve is measuring "observable nights", but I think the definition varies for each of us according to our circumstances. A clear spell of three hours between 11pm and 2am may well be useful to someone who isn't working the following day, but it's not that helpful if you have to get up at 6am to go to work on very little sleep."

Spot on James - I've said this from the outset it is a very personal thing depending on your circumstances- my general rule of thumb was half hour set up and an hour observing with clear skies irrespective of the moon or wind 6pm to midnight in the week - longer on the weekend which ties in with my work patterns and is generally what I consider observable conditions which of course could be completely different to someone living as close as 5 miles down the road where conditions could be very different. Where one person considers nights of something slightly less than perfect seeing " Non observable" others may have a different perspective.

Its not a scientific process but it is quite enlightening to me at least.

at the very least its proving to me things are not as bad as we might think

[Davey-T]

I'm in north kent and since 1st January I've had one night good enough for imaging and a couple of nights with a few clear bits in between the clouds.

Dave

[Astro_Baby]

I am keeping a a log of nights. I check three or four times in the evening and then take a check each time I wake up at night, thats usually every two to three hours. For me its not much use if its clear at 4am. I am also takimg note of skyy conditions, lunar phase etc.

So far since Jan 1 there have only been two clear nights, one of those wa a dull moon, the othe one it wa too windy with gusts of up to 30,mph and average windspeed of 13mph so although technically clear it wsas unsusable.

In short I havent been able to observe since Jan 1St and prior yo that the only usable night was. 10th December , I couldnt go then as I had a dinner to attend.

So in a nutshell thats four months without a single observing session, its one reason why astro has now been relegated to a sort of Occasional pastime and no longer is my main hobby which is now rocketry. I can buid

rockets whatever the weather.

[stevetynant]

Isn't that odd. I've been out on a mountain in Brecon at least three times since january one those nights with the snow along the side of the road was possibly the best viewing I've had to date. I wonder sometimes if you actually go out and spend some time in the cold if things might not seem ss bad than if you just take a brief look through the Windows? Of course the same is true if you consider a night fine for observing by seeing the stars from the window but don't get out to be frustrated by the drifting high clouds. My own records seem to indicate things are no where near as bad as we may think yhey are but that could just be my location or low expectations of what a good observing night is . for what it's worth it was a beautiful clear and cold night down here in mid West Wales last night. Just came back too late from our night out to take advantage. Forecast for the West is good again tonight. Pann stars here i come.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[lhuchison]

For the past 2 nights the forecast said clear skies in East Sussex . So out came my new scope , table and comfy chair only to be met with thick cloud all night! I give up!

[carastro]

Yup same here in North Kent. I think 5 clear evenings in 4 months, and some of those I was out for the evening so couldn't use them.

Also weather forecasts are inaccurate whereas in the past they always seemed reliable. Last night was forecast to be clear, by 1am I gave up and went to bed. Tonight is forecast clear again and I'm baby sitting, but the forecast wil probably be wrong again.

Carole

[kev]

I have just got the scope out for the first time since before Christmas!

Yeahhh its sunny 8-)

[Davey-T]

Yup same here in North Kent. I think 5 clear evenings in 4 months, and some of those I was out for the evening so couldn't use them.

Also weather forecasts are inaccurate whereas in the past they always seemed reliable. Last night was forecast to be clear, by 1am I gave up and went to bed. Tonight is forecast clear again and I'm baby sitting, but the forecast wil probably be wrong again.

Carole

Just down the road a bit from you Carol and went up by Brands Hatch last night to try and image the comet and there was a big cloud bank looked like it was right over you and the comet. Lovely clear sky this morning at 4 Oclock though, caught it rising in the NE. out the bedroom window.

Dave

[OutThereSomewhere]

Skies were fairly clear in Warrington this evening, so I headed 22 miles out to a darker sky spot...

Which was very cloudy, so came straight back to a fairlycloudy sky at Warrington again .

[Stargazer_00]

Is there an astronomy take on the grass is always greener slogan?

"the sky always looks darker on the other side"

It just poor luck to travel to a spot only to be greeted with clouds. Probably the single biggest factor that prevents me from traveling more frequently is having no guarentee that after all the preparation you will get a reward for your efforts. I'm sorry to hear that tonight wasn't your lucky night but maybe there is a reason why you were not meant to be there tonight.

[OutThereSomewhere]

I was really miffed about my "sky always looks darker on the other side" moment. I was grumbling to myself all the way home .

When I got home, I watched a documentary with my family about a bloke in the Phillipines who drove a taxi (of sorts). The poverty was horrendous. The people there lived on leftovers from takeaway meals that they scavenged and refried.

That brought me back to Earth .

I will never moan about a 22 mile return journey through lovely Cheshire countryside again. There I was in a lovely car with equally lovely astro gear - both of which are ridiculous luxuries which most of the world would never get the opportunity to appreciate .

Now, I don't mind the weather if its a bit off!

[Demon Barber]

Jonathan,you will justt have to move to Galloway!!!!!!!

Regards

Mike

[Khw]

Hi thegman2 , I'm just down the m20 in Folkestone and as frustrated as you mate , I got my scope in January and have probably used it a dozen times. Nothing we can do about it really.chin up the summer is coming , kev

[Stargazer_00]

A dozen times? Since January? Blimey slow up or you'll wear it out.