Rage against the clouds

a rant by RevAaron written on his iPod Touch

Question: What's worse than a totally clouded-over new moon night?

Answer: A totally clouded-over new moon night that started out perfectly clear which precipitated a drive to a dark sky site and several cups of coffee before clouding over just before arrival and now I'm sitting in my van too caffeinated to even sleep, with only an iPod Touch and a headache to keep me company.



I know I'm not alone. Every amateur astronomer has these kinds of nights sometimes. The sad fact is that even great weather prediction sites like the Clear Sky Chart and SkippySky are wrong sometimes, and those are the worst nights. At least if clouds are predicted, I can make other plans. Heck, I've got two new Battlestar Galactica discs at home just begging to be watched. Frak! Not to mention blog posts to finish and an electronic observing log desperately needing updated.

I know it's not fair, but it's enough to make a person want to call up the Weather Channel and verbally abuse a meteorologist.* So what to do? One thing is sure: if I head for home, it will immediately clear up. There ought to be a country song about this or something. I think I'll give it another hour or so, then drive back.

The bright side: I'll appreciate the next cloudless night all the more.



*Apologies to any meteorologists reading this. We appreciate what you do.