68 replies to this topic

[RetiredDave]

Is it just me, or has 2025 been a bad year so far for astronomy weather? I don't even have any new gear this year (yet), and it seems like I have only been able to set up about 25% of what I did last year over the same period.

[Overtime]

Just remember what I mentioned before and I am viewing right now and my skies aren't good with my seestar. It is amazing what the scope can see what I can't without assistance. I also have a pretty bright  view of the moon that's making things worse. The sky was so bad my seestar couldn't find the sun. I was able to find the moon as it got dark, once its view moved beyond a tree. Ya we all or a bunch or all of us have had / have similar issues. You just gotta be patient and be happy if you can see ANYTHING. Heck I gave a friend a scope I was no longer using so he could get a feel for the astronomy craft ( not that I know much) and I have to factor in his work schedule along with everything else.

[hyiger]

I haven't been able to take the scope out in 6 months. Also, it seems the only decent weather recently is during a full moon.

[RetiredDave]

Just remember what I mentioned before and I am viewing right now and my skies aren't good with my seestar. It is amazing what the scope can see what I can't without assistance. I also have a pretty bright view of the moon that's making things worse. The sky was so bad my seestar couldn't find the sun. I was able to find the moon as it got dark, once its view moved beyond a tree. Ya we all or a bunch or all of us have had / have similar issues. You just gotta be patient and be happy if you can see ANYTHING. Heck I gave a friend a scope I was no longer using so he could get a feel for the astronomy craft ( not that I know much) and I have to factor in his work schedule along with everything else.

I don’t get set up unless the weather forecast is good. It just has not been good very often this year compared to previous years.

[RetiredDave]

I haven't been able to take the scope out in 6 months. Also, it seems the only decent weather recently is during a full moon.

I would take good weather during a full moon at this point.

Edited by RetiredDave, 10 May 2025 - 10:46 PM.

[hfjacinto]

East coast weather has been the same. Some weeks are good, most aren’t. Work around the weather when you can.

[hyiger]

I would take good weather during a full moon ot this point.

I only image so a full moon is the same as raining for me. 

[bobzeq25]

There is more humidity, which creates more clouds. The reason is banned from discussion here.

But things are not likely to get better. Overall, some areas may get a bit better, some may get worse. But mostly the cloud level on any given night in any given location is just a matter of luck.

Edited by bobzeq25, 10 May 2025 - 10:03 PM.

[MrsM75]

I live in a suburb town of 34,000 population. Drive 45 minutes on freeway in order to get to Los Angeles. 

 

So SoCal here, and I have the worst year 2025 for the past few months, cloudy and cloudy, and rain, and more rain on and off. And then cloudy, more clouds.

 

Last year 2024 April and May was clear. This year 2025, March was rain rain rain, April it clouds and clouds and scatter rain. May it clouds too. At night clouds in the ocean just pull in us SoCal.

 

At this rate I not even sure if I can stargaze in June, and June (Summer) is my favorite month(s), I'm a Globular person. I might not even get to see my uttermost beloved glob M75 this year.

[MrsM75]

There is more humidity, which creates more clouds. The reason is banned from discussion here.

But things are not likely to get better. Overall, some areas may get a bit better, some may get worse. But mostly the cloud level on any given night in any given location is just a matter of luck.

 

Are you in California Sir.

 

It humid here too. Hot 100 degree is one thing, but there No breeze, not even a breeze, which make it even hotter. I beg for some breeze.

 

My home is facing South too, fun. I get ALL the Sunlight in the Summer, my house is heating up due to it face South. And no trees in front of my house neither.

 

sigh..

[RetiredDave]

I only image so a full moon is the same as raining for me.

I only image also. 3nm narrowband works well enough as long as you point ~30° or more away from the moon, even when it is full.

[GSwaim]

I live in East Texas and there's usually about 5-6 days/nights out of a month that are good for astronomy. 

Today it's raining...lol

 

Yesterday was overcast and so will tomorrow be as well.

Tuesday morning should be good for solar viewing, unless certain artificial clouds move in and block the view of the sun for hours on end...

 

Moon rise on Tuesday is at 2131(9:31pm) so I'll look at that at around 11pm for about 2 hours. 

Edited by GSwaim, 11 May 2025 - 05:43 PM.

[mountain monk]

Yes, the past twelve months have been rather grim here, too. We had smoke most of last summer, including smoke from two fires only thirty, forty miles away. An OK autumn, only three great nights in January, and since then high humidity, clouds, a hovering jet stream, etc. Wyoming endured 850,000 acres of wild fires last year, and a worsening drought and warmer predicted weather may very well wreck viewing this summer. For us, smoke is a much worse problem than light pollution. And unlike light pollution there is nothing we can do about it. We’ve had smoke from fires in Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, California, and sometimes Canada and Siberia. Yuck.

 

Dark, clear, calm skies.

 

Jack

[Sebastian_Sajaroff]

So far, it’s been a cloudy year in Quebec.
January, February and March came with 4-6 clear nights each (not bad), though most were close to Full Moon (go figure!)
April and May have been nefarious so far, 2 clear nights in 6 weeks, heavily clouded at daytime as well.
This morning was my first solar session in 5 weeks !
Maybe I should join a cloud photography club 😂

Edited by Sebastian_Sajaroff, 11 May 2025 - 05:04 PM.

[RetiredDave]

Maybe more clouds will mean less forest fires. Hope for clear nights when fall arrives.

[Keith Rivich]

Is it just me, or has 2025 been a bad year so far for astronomy weather? I don't even have any new gear this year (yet), and it seems like I have only been able to set up about 25% of what I did last year over the same period.

Mine has been pretty good this year. At the two star parties I have been to, TSP and our private star party, most nights have been very usable. Not spectacular, but usable. 

[JoeBlow]

I can confirm East Coast of Australia has been pretty terrible this year, clouds and rain... In fact the weather seems to have been terrible the past few years. I miss past times when I would have weeks of dry weather and clear blue skies. It seems like a distant memory now.

[JayinUT]

January and February were great for observing and March was also great but a broken elbow stopped me that month. April had one good night but the rest were typical of northern Utah with storms and clouds.  I've had a couple of good nights during the lunar cycle and got some good lunar observing and double star observing with a few open clusters. The weather was great for full moon this weekend and now will turn for the next week.  Hopefully I can squeeze in a night or two over new moon.

 

So over all I would say I have had some great nights and some not so great nights. The broken elbow impacted my observing more than the weather. Glad it is all healed up now and back to normal. 

 

I think another thing is when I was working full time plus, if I had a good night sometimes I could go out and sometimes I could not. Now, I work about 30 hours a week around my own schedule and can take a day off if I want as long as I get my work done which I LOVE.  Anyway, I think if your working full time and on a schedule sometimes there is a good night but that limits one from taking full advantage of it.

[Mike Q]

In my part of north central Ohio the nights that line up with my schedule have been few and far between.  We had a few clear nights in February but i dont do astro when its under 20 degrees.  I have had 6 sessions and half have been scrapped by wind or garbage conditions.

[RetiredDave]

January and February were great for observing and March was also great but a broken elbow stopped me that month. April had one good night but the rest were typical of northern Utah with storms and clouds.  I've had a couple of good nights during the lunar cycle and got some good lunar observing and double star observing with a few open clusters. The weather was great for full moon this weekend and now will turn for the next week.  Hopefully I can squeeze in a night or two over new moon.

 

So over all I would say I have had some great nights and some not so great nights. The broken elbow impacted my observing more than the weather. Glad it is all healed up now and back to normal. 

 

I think another thing is when I was working full time plus, if I had a good night sometimes I could go out and sometimes I could not. Now, I work about 30 hours a week around my own schedule and can take a day off if I want as long as I get my work done which I LOVE.  Anyway, I think if your working full time and on a schedule sometimes there is a good night but that limits one from taking full advantage of it.

Where is this magical place where the weather is good so often?
 

[PYeomans]

I think that atrocious sums it up.

[Tony Flanders]

Here on the New York / Massachusetts line winter was perhaps a smidge worse than usual. It was definitely much colder than the past few winters, which caused an abnormally high number of nights with lake-effect clouds -- very frustrating, because on such nights my light-polluted city home in Cambridge, MA is typically clear, while my relatively dark country home is cloudy. The snow stayed on the ground all winter, which was delightful for daytime activities but a minor nuisance at night. But unlike the years of yore, it never got more than knee-deep.

 

March and April were about average -- I got two nights of clear, transparent, moonless skies. Historically, I have averaged two or three. We just had a couple of clear, transparent nights in the last few days, but they were pretty much useless for deep-sky astronomy due to the nearly full Moon. It remains to be seen what the moonless period in May will be like. Alas, the moonless period is toward the end of the month, and astro twilight is now getting inordinately late. But that has nothing to do with the weather.

[Jhunt]

I still haven't been able to get out all year. It's cloudy and rainy this week. That's Washington State for you. It's ok through because I rather have rainy weather than forest fires from dried out trees and earth this summer. Those orange smokey skies would be worse. 

 

It sucks because I can only drive out to my site on the weekends. So two nights a week. 

[Mike W]

Here on the New York / Massachusetts line winter was perhaps a smidge worse than usual. It was definitely much colder than the past few winters, which caused an abnormally high number of nights with lake-effect clouds -- very frustrating, because on such nights my light-polluted city home in Cambridge, MA is typically clear, while my relatively dark country home is cloudy. The snow stayed on the ground all winter, which was delightful for daytime activities but a minor nuisance at night. But unlike the years of yore, it never got more than knee-deep.

 

March and April were about average -- I got two nights of clear, transparent, moonless skies. Historically, I have averaged two or three. We just had a couple of clear, transparent nights in the last few days, but they were pretty much useless for deep-sky astronomy due to the nearly full Moon. It remains to be seen what the moonless period in May will be like. Alas, the moonless period is toward the end of the month, and astro twilight is now getting inordinately late. But that has nothing to do with the weather.

Moon rise is getting later each night, I never wait for new moon around here! Pollen is the worse thing over here........................

[JoeFaz]

Around here it's been a continuation of the end of 2024. Starting around September or October of last year, we've been getting more clouds than usual. I'm getting out once or twice a month lately. Hopefully it'll get better, but as I type this it's downpouring and half my yard is under water, so it's not looking up just yet...