bdo Loc: Colorado

One of my photographic obsessions is photographing the Flatirons, the iconic sandstone formation in Boulder, CO.

Since they face east, best time to photograph is at sunrise.

A while back, someone asked the deceptively simple question: "How can you tell if the sunrise is going to be scenic?"

The obvious answer is "Look out the window".

For me, it turns out that is the only answer.

I was prepared to to go out this morning, but one look out the window convinced me that not only would there be no sun, but the Flatirons had gone missing, hidden in the clouds.

However, there is a pretty good forecasting service, the National Weather Service:

http://www.weather.gov/forecastmaps#

The URL, above, will take you to a wealth of information which can give you a general idea of the cloud cover in your area.

And if you click on "Sky Cover":

http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/conus.php?element=Sky

you can get a good forecast of the cloud conditions in your area at four different times of the day, starting with 7 AM. If you click on the national map of sky cover, it will zoom in to your region.

No, it's not perfect, but it is a good guide. I looked at it last night, and it predicted cloud cover for early this morning.

I should have listened... I could have slept in another hour.