The weather has been playing games with me this weekend. Yesterday, it darkened my hopes of going out to our clubs observatory to hold a star party. It had never looked promising but every so often a bit of sunshine would break through the cloud bank. Thunder and downpours pushed any hope out of my mind.
Today was very similar. I just experienced rain, accompanied with thick dark clouds. Now, as I write this, five minutes after the rain, sunshine is glowing on the near-by field. I know there are more clouds, if not rain coming behind this brief bit of brightness. The star party for tonight has been cancelled.
I am sitting beside a stream enjoying the sounds the water makes. The stream is high and the water is dark. The sounds are soothing, water tumbling over rocks accompanied with occasional chirping of birds. No cars pass by, increasing the feeling of isolation.
The wind blows through the trees, a little psithurism to accompany the birds and giving a bit of movement to the scene I’m looking at. The field lightens up and then like clockwork darkens again. Looking at the sky, there is no clearing, only thinning cloud cover. Dark angry clouds drift along the edge of the valley with pale haze overhead.
I have known for weeks that the weather this weekend would be bad. When planning a star party, it is always a gamble, especially here in Pittsburgh where the weather is prone to rain and clouds. I shouldn’t be disappointed or upset, the odds were against us!
It has been a long time since our club, the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh, held a star party. Over 20 months according to one of the members. The Covid epidemic has put a hold on so many things in our lives, the star parties are really a minor thing! But still, we miss them!
There have been a lot of discussions about these star parties. Will it be safe, how can we keep our equipment clean and sterile? Do we need masks? Do we need to worry about possibly catching anything by allowing the public to use our gear?
Most of us are going along with the idea that if we are vaccinated, we should be safe. The desire to share the night sky with others drives us on!
My own personal schedule has opened up and I didn’t have any required demands for Friday nights. I have been looking forward to this weekend since the star party dates were announced. Even as I penciled in the dates, I knew my chances were slim. Still I kept my fingers crossed.
A small bit of blue sky drifts overhead, surrounded by grey clouds. Dark, thick clouds are moving into view. The blue sky was just a tease. Mother Nature is playing with me, laughing at my hopes and my dreams.
Rain drops start splashing on my windshield and spotting the surface of the stream. There won’t be any telescope viewing tonight. I guess this will only make the next clear night all that much more enjoyable!
Last but not least, this cartoon reminded me of Pittsburgh…for some odd reason.
2 comments:
Enjoyed your thoughts Phil. Keeps your hopes up for the next star party
OMG....one summer when I was still living in the Burg.....& working at MOVExpress in Sharpsburg....it rained EVERY damn weekend that summer. Pouring buckets of rain every weekend! I do NOT miss the Pissburgh (no typo) weather.
I moved here to Roanoke VA & asked people....does it ever rain here? Seemed like it only rained at night when I was sleeping. So strange.....to actually MISS the sound of rain. The SMELL the rain makes. Seems to rain more here now. Guess all those rain dances I was doing worked. Now we get torrential rains during the day that make Class 1 rapids down some driveways.
Yeah....global warming has given us more equatorial-like rain. Like they have in the Amazon rain forest. Two inches of rain in a few hours then the sun bursts out & it gets steamy.
Yeah....& how about that smoke haze? We have it dahn here too. See I still speak some Pittsburghese. Hahahahhaha. Dahntahn Roanoke is way smaller than dahntahn up there. Just sayin'.
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