On 10 Apr 2011, at 13:39, erikhansen@TheBlueZone.net wrote:
Bruce gets very nervous if there is any chance of precip.
As it happens it was Bruce who opened the refractor. You are right about his being nervous about rain but last night there wasn't anything to be nervous about. It was kind of weird with clouds down around the horizon in all directions but the skies above were completely clear at 7:30. Clouds did start moving in about an hour later but even then it was only high thin stuff at first. But by 9:00 it looked like the thick clouds were about to move in so since there were no lines we closed down and went to Advanced Training. Years ago it was explained to me by a meteorologist friend that situations like last night where it is cloudy in SLC but clear in Stansbury have to do with the placement of the Oquirrh and Wasatch mountains. Because the Oquirrhs end in the north at the GSL and the south in Rush Valley the weather can go around them. But then the weather runs into the Wasatch since they stretch so far south, north and up there's no place for the weather to go so it just piles up in the SL Valley. Another reason why in the 30+ years I've lived in Stansbury I might have to have shoveled snow maybe a couple times per year while those in the SL Valley shovel many times. At any rate, fun night last night. And that we got to help a student work on an astronomy report for school made it even better. patrick