Cloud Dodging = Ken (Fogfire's) Western WA Astronomy Blog

6/23/2012 8:52 PM
The sky is clearing! ClearSkyClock until this AM was talking about a nice clearing all night. Then it changed.
Right now it looks like the previous forecast might have been better.
There is a slight off shore flow from the south. This with an opening hole over western WA that has me hoping.
Putting the C9.25 out to cool and downloading BYEOS, though if I just get the mount PEC trained tonight I will be happy.
Keeping my fingers crossed

9:40PM
Very clear location to the South and west. IF I knew it was going to stay I would be happy.
There are thine clouds overhead and more to the north and while Astronomy in the NW includes some meteorology, I am not sure that as the air cools if the clouds will thin or get thicker. I have lit one of my mosquito coils, my new favorite thing for fighting mosquitos as it involves both fire and it smells good, like fireworks
OTA os Cooling.. I am still on fence about moving the CGEM out..
Also waiting for trial code for Backyard EOS, fear that it is not automatic (bad marketing.. never get in way of the impulse buy) Might need to go download APT instead.. that's how one loses customers....
10:11PM
IT has clouded over with thin puffy clouds. There is clearing to the east now.. and the clouds seem to be moving from that direction. However I live in something call the Puget Sound Convergent Zone.. air flow from the north and south tend to meet here if they are channeled between the Olympic Mountains and the Cascades.. so we make our own weather. There have been days when from a top of a hill I can see clear north and south.. but a strip of clouds about 15 miles wide over my house Isn't that special. Today we had lots of rain in the early afternoon so I suspect there is just too much water in the air not to make clouds right away vs waiting until the early morning.
OTA is cooling, Mosquito coil is smoking and the tripod is level and out just in case. It doesn't really get dark for anoth 30-40 minutes so.. I will hold out hope that a shift in the air might push the clear areas here...

Not a Live Image from Tonight..
just shows why I get the worst weather.

10:45PM
for a while I had a nice gap over heard but still dealing with 50% or more cloud cover. I added some stuff the at a citrus / garlic order to the grass. because the mosquito coil might work, but it does nothing for what might be fleas. So there is an odd mix of firework and wet salad dressing smell now.
I can see Vega and Arcturus and have seen a couple of satellites pass over.. but it feels like the low clouds are going to win .. Though there was an eerie visual as some very high cirrus clouds picked up a blue glow from the western horizon. So there were streaks of blue glow in the sky.
It's been a pleasant enough evening.. but I think with the large rain storms from this afternoon there is just too much moisture and not enough heat in the atmosphere for the clouds to do anything but get thicker. Just before coming in to post.. I was at about 65% cloud cover. I will make the final call in about 15 minutes.\
11:20Pm
the Coil has been extinguished, the gear is inside. Sure enough just as it would be getting dark the low clouds have totally cleared maybe 10% cloud cover... but now those high cirrus have become thick rivers of high clouds pushing in from the south the beginning a new band that is eating transparency. So Score one for the Canadian Meteorological Service.. it was a fools gap in the clouds.. off to bed soon.. Hoping Wednesday night stays good as it is listed as a 9 on the weekly Stargazing forecast.