by Mark Wagner
On Sun, 12 Dec 1999, Jay Reynolds Freeman wrote:
Just got back from observing at Michelle's Sierra foothills site on Friday and Saturday evenings, 10 and 11 December, and thought I would do a brief heads-up for folks who are comparing weather here and there, while all relevant memories are still fresh.
At Fiddletown, Rashad found the temps and dew problems Friday night. I'll let him go into the details. Saturday, when I arrived, it was almost completely clear skies. Before dark, there was dew on my observer's chair seat. After dark, the temp had dropped to a low of 35 degrees F, with relative humidity up to 98 percent. I tried a chemical toe-warmer taped to the metal can housing the secondary mirror in my 18" Dob, and that was sufficient to clear the dew. Later, the relative humidity dropped to below 75% and we were dew free. My layers consisted of:
1 pair Sorrell Caribu boots (20 years old and still great).
1 pair long ski socks.
1 pair long-john bottoms.
1 pair blue jeans.
1 pair Polartec pants (REI).
1 t-shirt.
1 long sleeved heavy shirt (almost sweatshirt material).
1 long sleeved heavy fleece shirt zipped to the neck.
1 soft neck gator.
1 long jacket by LL Bean.
1 "Triceratops" wool cap.
I was not cold until I got tired at about 3:30 a.m.
The sky was not as transparant as I've seen it at Fiddletown other times, and the seeing was changable, going from brief moments of superb clarity to usually somewhat soft, to occasional horrid.
Breakfast at diner in Plymouth was great before the drive home.
I don't know what I logged yet, but I had returned to my Herschel 2500(?) list to pick up winter objects that had been El Nino'd or La Nina'd out the past few years.
Next month, if the weather cooperates, I would like to go back to Michelle's for a change of pace.