Well I've lived in Brisbane for about 25 years and I can't remember a summer quite as bad as this one for cloud and showers. So I downloaded the weather information at BOM from November last year to now and had a look at some statistics. Here is what I discovered....
3pm cloud cover:
No cloud free days at 3pm in Brisbane for that time period! I do know that some days cleared up once the sun went down but this is still very interesting! 77 days had less than half the sky covered in cloud while 87 days were more than 50% covered.
Rainfall:
There were 83 days of no rain while there were 78 days of rain. 3 days had no data recorded - I'm not sure what that means! We had a total of 951.4mm of rain during this time (excluding the 3 days with no data). That's 37.5" in the old speak....
The forecast for the next 7 days... Showers and possible storms!
However, I do know that winter will soon be here and then it will be clear skies, all night, every night!!
I woke up yesterday to a blinding light - THE SUN!!! It stayed beautifully clear until about 12, when they started building. By 3, near total overcast (7/8ths). By 5, 8/8. By 7pm, back to about 6/8, and managed to do a VERY brief star test on the resurrected discarded 114mm reflector (SURPRISINGLY good!!!). 5 minutes later, overcast again. Went to bed.
At least by winter I should have all the bits I want, have fine tuned my VC200L collimation, and know processing a LOT more.
It is pretty bad this year, but from memory 1989-1991 were worse.
This year we do actually see the sun... occasionally.
In 1989-1991 we had 18 months straight where it rained EVERY weekend. I was so pissed off I sold all my astro gear on the basis that it was better to buy again later in a drought cycle. I waited until 2008, and sure enough the wet returned.
It is pretty bad this year, but from memory 1989-1991 were worse.
This year we do actually see the sun... occasionally.
In 1989-1991 we had 18 months straight where it rained EVERY weekend. I was so pissed off I sold all my astro gear on the basis that it was better to buy again later in a drought cycle. I waited until 2008, and sure enough the wet returned.
Holy downpour Batman, can I see a trend here? I returned to Sydney to live for a few years... 1989-1991 to be exact!! Am I to blame for the prolonged wet seasons? I lived in Indonesia for a few years and it rained a lot there but I thought that was normal for the tropics. Maybe it wasn't....
However, I do know that winter will soon be here and then it will be clear skies, all night, every night!!
Cheers,
Mario
That's the thing Mario. You Queenslanders moan every Summer but at least your Winter skies are generally clear. In Adelaide, skies aren't always clear in Summer. We did have one good stretch this yeah where it was fairly clear for a couple of weeks. Then, when it's clear, it means it's usually hot. No cooled dslr for me.
Well put it this way, Feb - April last year was my best year ever for planet imaging & received at least 4-5 weeks of clear skies in that time frame. This year I was lucky to get 1.5 - 2 weeks.
I'm in Bundy, so reasonably similar weather patterns I assume.
every Summer but at least your Winter skies are generally clear. In Adelaide, skies aren't always clear in Summer. We did have one good stretch this yeah where it was fairly clear for a couple of weeks. Then, when it's clear, it means it's usually hot. No cooled dslr for me.
