Quote:
Originally Posted by pgc hunter
That's known as the Melbourne Phenomenon, while the speed and thickness at which the clouds move in is known as the Melbourne Factor.
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Hahaha. I thought it was just me.
You know, so many times it's been crystal clear when "I" wanted to do some viewing of any kind, and it can cloud over in a matter of minutes.
Many times I wanted to view the Space Shuttle's penultimate "lap of honour" before they re-enter, that's usually OK, but everytime they do the DOB (de-orbit burn), it bloody clouds over.
I have seen a re-entry once before, but want to capture it on a photo/vid.
In the last 3 years, only one re-entry was not clouded.
I have learnt the ways of Melbourne's cloud system.
If you see a thick cloud front coming, if it hasn't passed in 2-3 hours, it's in for the night.
Speckled cloud seems to be hit or miss. Usually it is fast moving. You'll get intermittent viewing. But it will be a 50/50 decision, if a cloud front comes in, or it becomes crystal clear. Usually you'll know in 2 hours.
Most times I have dealt with the speckled cloud (that is fast moving) usually clears in 1-2 hours.
On some nights, I have seen in the order of : crystal clear-speckled-crystal clear-speckled-massive cloudfront-speckled-cloudfront-speckled-crystal clear all in about 4 hours.
Somenights I have given up and gone to bed. But in the event of just getting into bed, the curiosity gets the better of me and I have to peek outside. You guessed it, clear (mostly). Always the way.