How do you pick your best seeing nights and avoid the worst??
In astrophotography seeing is all important and picking the best nights can be almost as difficult as accurate fortune telling. Some say predicting the weather is pretty close to fortune telling so I'm wondering what basic rules of thumb you use to pick a potentially good night in advance. As for myself I go to these websites in order of precedence.
http://skippysky.com.au/Australia/
http://www.southerngalactic.com/AujetstreamLoop.html
http://www.southerngalactic.com/AUNOAALoop.html
http://www.southerngalactic.com/SGAusIR.html
Then I try to figure out
1/ if the clouds will get to me before it's dark enough to do anything
2/ is there's a jet stream overhead
3/ is the temperature below 20C – warm nights don't seem to be any good
4/ look up and if the stars are seriously twinkling go watch tv
Some say it can be very good just after a rainy cold front has passed and some say just before. Not sure which works best as it probably depends on what's pushing the front. Haven't mentioned barometer readings but suspect they play a part too.
Anyway, fire away folks...teach me how to pick a good night.
Cheers
Stephen