Down in Cornwall

[bish]

I am down in Cornwall for the week. The sky is nice and dark. Guess what? It's cloudy! No surprise there. Forecast is cloudy all week too. At least the clouds aren't orange I suppose.

[JamesF]

Sadly the weather in the south west doesn't seem to have been that great for quite a while.  Even much of the time when it has been dry there seems to have been a lot of cloud.

James

[Stu]

I am down in Cornwall for the week. The sky is nice and dark. Guess what? It's cloudy! No surprise there. Forecast is cloudy all week too. At least the clouds aren't orange I suppose.

Shame, but given the accuracy of forecasts, hopefully you'll get at least a bit of clear sky. Fingers crossed

[bish]

Sadly the weather in the south west doesn't seem to have been that great for quite a while.  Even much of the time when it has been dry there seems to have been a lot of cloud.

James

Just wish I had thought to bring a torch!

Shame, but given the accuracy of forecasts, hopefully you'll get at least a bit of clear sky. Fingers crossed

Thanks. If we all cross our fingers, then perhaps I might get a glimpse?

[Gazabone]

It was a good night last night though.......

[JamesF]

Just wish I had thought to bring a torch!

One of the first things I noticed when we moved here was how incredibly dark it is when there was thick cloud at night and the Moon wasn't in the sky.  It's quite surprising when you can hold your hand up in front of your face and genuinely not see it.  I don't mean "can't make out any detail".  I mean "have no idea it's there".  It doesn't get any darker when you close your eyes.

On the other hand, on a clear night with a reasonably full Moon you can see the shadows quite easily.

James

[bish]

It was a good night last night though.......

I feel so much better now....

One of the first things I noticed when we moved here was how incredibly dark it is when there was thick cloud at night and the Moon wasn't in the sky.  It's quite surprising when you can hold your hand up in front of your face and genuinely not see it.  I don't mean "can't make out any detail".  I mean "have no idea it's there".  It doesn't get any darker when you close your eyes.

On the other hand, on a clear night with a reasonably full Moon you can see the shadows quite easily.

James

It's funny because the village where I grew up was like that. Living in Dudley for the past 10 years means that I just assume you can always see well enough. Even the house with the curtains drawn isn't actually dark.

[Mike73]

Where abouts in the Motherland are you Bish?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hope the forecast is wrong and you get some clear skies

[JamesF]

It's funny because the village where I grew up was like that. Living in Dudley for the past 10 years means that I just assume you can always see well enough. Even the house with the curtains drawn isn't actually dark.

My experience is much the same.  I spent most of the first ten years of my life in a fairly quiet area of South Wales, but after that we moved around a bit and lived in more heavily populated areas.  When I left uni I lived around Reading.  As you say, it's not really dark there even with the curtains closed.  Here there's often very little need for them unless you're concerned that some of the foxes might be peeping toms

James

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Fingers crossed for you. I was down there the week before last and had a fantastic run of nights with the high sitting over the UK, but on other trips I've been clouded out for a week.

[Mike73]

If you have transport and are willing to travel around Cornwall a bit then sometimes you can avoid the cloud by driving to whichever coast has the onshore breeze. If you use Sat24 then quite often you'll see cloud build up as it hits land but clear over the sea, of course this isn't always the case but sometimes it works.

[bejay1957]

Was in Devon last week, most days we had cloud/rain in the evenings and into the night; first holiday in living memory that I didn't manage to see/photograph a sunrise or sunset!

[Mike73]

Was in Devon last week, most days we had cloud/rain in the evenings and into the night; first holiday in living memory that I didn't manage to see/photograph a sunrise or sunset!

Well thats Devon for ya! 

Seriously though you were very unlucky, the week before we had clear skies for a week. It was also pretty unlucky for me as I didn't have a scope! 

[bish]

I've been out all day and just caught a cloud break. Nice to see the Milky Way again. No scope, just bins.