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Clear Outside Weather Forecasts for Astronomers


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... can you send your customer manager over to the USA to sort out Orion Telescopes :smiley:

I would like a trip to the US but we don't sell Orion telescopes so I'll need to think of another excuse :smiley: 

Steve

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When the table says "% Sky Obscured" does this mean the % of the sky that is completely blocked or the % of cloud-occupied sky which may or may not interrupt viewing depending on the type of cloud? 

For example, as I type it is telling me that 49% of the sky should be obscured by clouds but when I look outside the sky looks (uncharacteristically) clear. So are the clouds covering the 49% of sky just too feint for me to notice? 

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There are a few things to consider:

-The forecast could be incorrect - we use a variety of sources but, as we all know there is no such thing as a perfect, 100% correct weather forecast :D

-It is covering an hour of time, so it could be that the cloud is passing or will appear a bit later - for example my forecast currently shows 29% cloud cover, but looking outside, the sky looks pretty clear, just a little cloud around the horizons. The forecast for the next hour is completey clear, which is exactly what it looks to be doing.

A reasonable indication of what the percentages mean is:

0% - Clear Sky

40% - Scattered Clouds

75% - Broken Cloud Cover

100% - Totally Overcast Skies

Cheers,

Grant

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The number one requested feature so far, has been to view the forecast from Midday-Midday rather than Midnight-Midnight so I am pleased to say - we have created a new view that lets you see the forecast done in this way:

http://clearoutside.com/forecast/50.7/-3.52?split=true

If you would like to test it for your own forecast, add "?split=true" to the end of your forecast URL. Once this is tested, there will be an easier way to change to this view by default - depending on feedback we may even make this the standard view that everyone gets.

We also now highlight the current local hour for that particular forecast which helps you see at a glance, where we are.

post-36613-0-06290600-1403175935_thumb.j

This is hot off the press so if you find any bugs or oddities, please let me know: bugs@clearoutside.com.

This is also the first stage to being able to let you choose your own timeframe - e.g. you may want 7-7 or 10-10 as the main display.

Please let us know what you think :)

Cheers,

Grant

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Feature request....

Could you do a mini-panel that can be grabbed from another site?

So, I could have a link to my location for (say) current day just showing the coloured boxes, which then links to the full, feature-rich site?

:)

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Feature request....

Could you do a mini-panel that can be grabbed from another site?

So, I could have a link to my location for (say) current day just showing the coloured boxes, which then links to the full, feature-rich site?

:)

Definitely - this is something I want to do ASAP - I am thinking a small version for signatures and the like and a larger version to embed in webpages (BAS?)

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Working for me just fine over here in France. Nice work.

Seeing, Transparancy and Jet Stream speeds might be worth displaying. Not having any visible clouds doesn't mean that it will neccessarily be a good observing night. (as an example I was using meteoblue.com)

+ I can't get the Tour to run under IE9

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Definitely - this is something I want to do ASAP - I am thinking a small version for signatures and the like and a larger version to embed in webpages (BAS?)

Yes, BAS, mine, SGL... :)

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+ I can't get the Tour to run under IE9

Hi Rich,

I've just tried the tour in IE9 on a Windows 7 machine and it's working for me - does the tour pop up at all when you hit the 'Start Tour' button?

Thanks,

Grant

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Hi Grant, essentially no, nothing happens when I click the Tour Button.

The button depresses but then nothing in IE9. Well not quite nothing, a dotted rectange now surrounds the button. (active scripting enabled).

OK in FF 30 odd.

OK in Avant Browser with IE9 rendering engine.

OK in SlimBrowser with IE9,IE8,or IE7 rendering engine. (handy browser for people who still love IE6)

OK in Opera 12.17

OK in Maxthon 3.4.5 (although Start button displays on the left rather than central as per the other browsers).

OK in Lunascape 6.8.10 (with both Gecko and Trident rendering engines, did not try with WebKit engine).

OK in Safari (but must enable Java Script ((disabled by default)) button dispays on the left).

OS, Win 7 Ultimate.

hth,

Rich

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Hello guys

i tried to send you an email as i seem to get a bug that i dont know if its a bug or not and i had this bounce back : 

now i had this same error in dec 2013 when i sent an email to the questions@firstlightoptics email,   eventually got around it by using the @macs alias @me account.     

basacally i sent this message : 

Hello guys!    

fantastic page as to the usual FLO fantastic quaility

just a random query,   iv noticed on quite a few days that the forcast at the end of the day has been : (i added a photo here but its gone now. it showed 9-midnight with very heavy 98% low cloud)

but on sunday in the early hours of the morning its showing : midnight - 6am showing 0-1% low cloud.

im just using this as an example for today. i know its not perfect but its shown on my location (maesycwmmer) quite a few times with theres been perfect skys with the skys being the same as the early hours not the late ones and showing identical clouds each day thats live.    im probally missing somthing and i know predicting the weather is difficult (for instance my weather station that i have outside has been adamant its going to rain today! when we have had 25ish temps)  but i just wondered if it was an issue or sumthing that was just happening.

many thanks as always :) and thank you for providing the service

Gareth

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