Serge's World

Living in a country with a very low elevation and frequent cloudy nights, I find it is important to have accurate weather reports to plan viewing sessions with my telescope. The average weather report is not enough, however, since with a combination of the low elevation and light pollution, on most nights which you are lucky enough to not have any clouds, the seeing is still frequently absolutely terrible.

Over the last few years, I have been trying to find a reliable astronomical seeing forecast, and have found a few, but most have been pretty basic. Yesterday, however, I found what looks to be the best forecast I have come across. Meteoblue offers a 3-day forecast for astronomical seeing, available for free on their website.

This forecast not only includes the obvious seeing indices (the reason for going to the page, after all), but also the level of low, mid and high level cloud cover, atmospheric conditions, ground temperature and humidity, as well as visible celestial bodies. These forecasts are given in hourly intervals.

Including the Moon and planets in the forecast, with their altitude and azimuth for each hour, also helps out in planning viewing sessions, as you can cross-reference the best seeing with the best position for planetary and lunar observations.

The forecasts are also available for any location around the world.

This page is definitely going to remain in my browser bookmarks.