Huge thanks to Nick and Tej for their support in running the observing session on Blackheath last night. Despite the heavy dew, we managed to run a successful session for about 3 hours.
A report is now on the website:
http://flamsteed.info/2014/11/blackheath-observing-friday-14-november-2014/
I was a very enjoyable evening, thank you again Mike and well done for following the more reliable weather forecast and making an excellent call to have it on! Skies were really clear for a nice longer period than expected. Thanks for educating us on some of the celestial objects too.
Mike, you mentioned you use an infra red weather forecasting, is it a site on the web that I can have a look at?
Mike, you mentioned you use an infra red weather forecasting, is it a site on the web that I can have a look at?
Thanks Tej. The main site that I use is here:
This allows you to switch between visual and infrared satellite views (obviously the visual view is no good after the Sun has set!).
However, I also use the WeatherPro app which, if you get the paid version, has some excellent satellite imagery, updated every 15 minutes.
Based on both of these, it's usually possible to predict the track of any clouds, though of course, clouds can appear out of nowhere, or can dissipate, so it's not foolproof by any means.
However, if you use these tools in conjunction with the MetOffice forecast, you can be pretty accurate. Last night, however, I completely ignored the MetOffice (who forecast heavy cloud from 6pm), and just trusted the satellite imagery.
Impressive resources there, Mike. Thanks, I will check them out and I can now see how you make your own forecasts. Clever!