[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

The very first meeting of our brand new group was held last Saturday, and was a definite succcess! We didn't have to chase the storm, it had positioned itself directly over our meeting in a premium position, saving us huge time and effort in tracking it down.

Even as we approached Ron's pleasant abode we were welcomed by the sight of dark clouds: thunderheads and a great black "lump" covering most of the sky overhead. About 10 minutes out from Ron's we hit the first of the rain, which only seemed to get heavier and harder minute by minute. There was a grand peal or 2 of thunder as we approached the turnoff to his place as well - awesome stuff.

On entering the property itself the first thing I saw was the brilliant red 12" tube of some kind of oversized exotic rain guage belonging to Dennis (aka Nightshift) sitting alone in the "viewing" area. Dennis himself was sensibly standing on the verandah, out of the rain. He had with him some kind of tripod mounted weather analising device, which I will have to find out more about. Eventually he decided he had gathered enough rain and moved the 12" diameter guage likewise to the verandah

Anyway during the next hour or so we were treated to a rare feast of weather: rain, wind, thunder and lightning, amazing and incredible cloud formations, a double rainbow, some hail - all of this leading to a sunset that managed to send incredible light rays across and through the aforementioned cloud clusters, etc. The only things missing from our atmospheric display was snow, and a tornado.

My own 10" condensation gathering and measuring tube was actually gathering a solid coat of fine dew even before the sun had truly set - I guess that as the temp plummetted we crashed headfirst straight through the dew point of our incredibly moist environment.

All in all a great show ...... sadly it did clear up as the sun set and we were actually forced to look at the stars for a while, but we did manage to counteract this clarity a little by building a massive fire in the BBQ, sending great amounts of smoke and withering heat haze to fill the air.

By 10 pm we were treated to the most intense fog I have seen in 20 years or more, which eventually closed out the entire sky by around midnight. The only things you coud see in the sky through this fog were Jupiter, Alpha & Beta Centauri, 3/4 of Crux, and all of those quite "fuzzy" in appearance, and not much else.

With a low temp overnight of 4 degress showing on my thermometer it was also a great night to be camped out. One of the fine gents attending had cleverly placed his small tent directly under a tree, so as to maximise the water drips he could collect by morning from the dew condensing on it's myriad fine branches and leaves ... wish I'd thought of that!

This fog was still solidly evident at 9am the next morning and actually obscured the sun rising over the hills to the east. The stuff of legends, I assure you!

We all had a fabulous time, and look forward to as many people as possible attending our 2nd meeting sometime soon! Friday the 13th of some month or another would seem auspicius.


Steve