Montebello

by Kevin Schuerman


I finally ended up at Montebello last night (after driving 90% of the way to Coyote, only to realize I had forgotten my truss poles!) The weather near Coyote looked fine at twilight, but there were clouds to the south, as Rob mentioned. I didn't trust the clouds to stay away, so I went home, swapped scopes, and headed up to Montebello, arriving at about 8:15. There were 8 to 10 observers already there. It was clear, ~50F and relatively dry with a constant light breeze.

I set up my Meade 8" LX90 next to Mark Brada and proceeded to chase OCs in Cassiopeia -- it had been awhile since I did any real observing "work" and since transparency was fair to average, this seemed to be the right strategy. Later on, the light breeze turned to a cold, damp wind. Observers began leaving one by one, and, by 11:15, I was by myself. The wind stopped, and the temperature settled at 39F with high humidity. I continued observing, although the a fog bank was approaching Montebello from the south. Shortly thereafter, seeing took a turn for the worse and I realized that I'd soon be dewed over or enveloped in fog, so I started packing up.

I left at about 12:45am, just as the fog was overtaking the parking lot. An enjoyable, albeit short evening.


Posted on sf-bay-tac Nov 07, 2004 14:30:51 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Jan 21, 2005 20:08:38 PT