One of the best combinations of transparency and seeing that I witnessed was one night right after a storm when I was at Camp Atoka, South Fork. Dean Williams and I were trying to show a church group the wonders of the heavens when a line of thunderstorms swept over the whole area. Normally we would pack it in and go home, but that night we just covered up the scope, hung out in my car and waited out the storm. We were rewarded with a clear steady sky that was hard to beat. The storm system was not one of those that took two days to get here and another day to leave. Some of those wide area systems have a long wedge of cirrus, then alto-cumulus (mackeral sky) etc. until the big ones move in. The good ones seem to be fast in and fast out.

My feeling is that some of the best viewing is in the winter where the sky is cold and stable. We seem to wait until the heat convection columns of summer boil to great heights. When I was flying a lot in the 70's and 80's I noticed that the most stable air was winter. Summertime was hang on to your hat time, especially in the mid-west where the humidity would add to the unstable skies.

-----Original Message-----
From: utah-astronomy-bounces+n7zi=comcast.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+n7zi=comcast.net@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of Jim Gibson
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2004 5:23 PM
To: List; UVAA List
Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Clear Skies

Saturday night after the storm I step outside for a few minutes to look at the sky and the it was magnificent.

I am wondering, in your collective experience does the sky usually get really steady and transparent after a storm?

Jim