It's official - the UK now has a monsoon season

[Starpaw]

I am sure this has been said many times before, but I cannot simply believe the weather we have been having recently.  Three weeks of cloud and rain.  It reminds me of the monsoon season in the Far East!  I recently received a 10mm BCO and I have been itching to use it.  I thought the rule is the bigger the purchase, the more cloud and bad weather.  Or is that now an inverse relationship?  I can only assume my other half has been doing her rain dance in protest at my astro expenditure!  Or my eagerness to use the new eyepiece has angered the astro gods.  I am not demoralised quite yet, though I have noticed a lot of scopes and other things being sold.  

[DAVE AMENDALL]

Great thing is the weather can change just like that. Unpredictable in these latitudes. I was once in Singapore during the monsoon season and it rained so hard that it smashed my locally bought brolly to pieces,and it filled a 10ft deep monsoon drain in less than three hours. The weather here has tested my new dome for condensation and leaks and the test passed with flying colours with no problems. Pun. Every cloud has a silver lining. The best place for water is in the taps

[Owmuchonomy]

We could do with some up here for the garden. We have had only one minor sprinkle in weeks.

[Starpaw]

Dave, I saw similar things in Japan.  One town  where I worked was completely flooded, 20ft deep monsoon/typhoon drains were completely full/bursting their banks, train lines were blocked by landslides etc..  Still, I was expected to get to work, though I did protest that I would need a helicopter to get there.  Also have fond memories of riding my bike with a cheap 100 yen brolley in one hand and having them smashed to pieces.

[cotterless45]

At least it's summer solstice and we can forward to dark , clear and crisp skies, somewhere !

[estwing]

camping in Ashbourne at the weekend......was lovely!

[SilverAstro]

I question the use of "season" in the title, it implies a brief period and that soon another season will arrive, ,

seems like it is continuous down here in the SW   I know astronomers are supposed to do it in the dark, but what should we do in the wet and dark ?

[DAVE AMENDALL]

The rain is great for washing off the pigeon droppings from the dome. We have had 20 clear or partly clear nights since Xmas in Nottinghamshire compared to Teneriffe at 160 completely clear ones. So you don't have to stop in Europe for things to improve,you have to move there

[uhb1966]

i tried a new trick today... have started buying astro gear during this monsoon season. The idea: the weather can't posssibly get any worse, so its best to get through with buying the new gear right now !