Germany: Clouds to spoil view of Perseid meteor shower on Thursday night

By Eric Leister, Meteorologist

August 10,2016; 6:25PM,EDT

 

 

Thick clouds will spoil stargazers' efforts to view the Perseid meteor shower on Thursday night, but better viewing conditions are expected on Friday night.
"Forecasters are predicting a Perseid outburst this year with double the normal rates on the night of Aug. 11-12," Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office said.
A meteor shower outburst means more meteors will be visible than normal. For the Perseid, the last outburst occurred in 2009, according to NASA.

"Under perfect conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour," Cooke said.
Peak viewing is expected between midnight and dawn on 12 August; however, high meteor rates are also expected on between midnight and dawn on 13 August.
On Thursday night, viewing conditions will be poor across all of Germany as a warm front moves from west to east over the country spreading thick clouds across the sky.
Along with the clouds, light rain will fall throughout the night.
This front will clear to the east on Friday allowing clear skies to filter over Germany by Friday night.
While the night will start out clear in most areas, some clouds will arrive in the north later at night which could hamper viewing at times.
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Areas most likely to have late-night clouds will include Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel.
Elsewhere, clear skies will prevail through the night, resulting in ideal viewing conditions.
Following several cool nights, more comfortable temperatures are expected on Friday night. Low temperatures will range from 10-13 C (50-55 F) in the south to 13-16 C (55-60 F) in the north.