Meteorological and sky conditions at AAV Lue-Stailas
Geography
The Val Muestair excels with an average of 250 sunny days and an estimated 130 clear nights per year and practically no air pollution. Well protected by the surrounding mountain chains from storms and precipitations, the region has its own mild microclimate that is continental and relatively dry. The high altitude of AAV Lue-Stailas situates it generally above most stratus cloud limits.
Coordinates
Latitude: 46° 37.5' N
Longitude: 10° 22.0' E
Elevation: 1935 m (6350 ft)
Climate
Rainfall: ~ 700 mm/yr
Number of sunny days: ~250/yr
Average temperature: 8° Celsius
Weather
satellite
Jet Stream
Temperature
In summer, which starts usually in late June, the night time temperatures range usually in the 10-15°C (50-60°F). Winter night temperatures can drop to minus 10-20°C (14 to -4°F). However, all domes are operated remotely in full comfort from the AAV Center.
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Sky brightness over the domes of AAV Lue-Stailas
The entire valley (over 420000 acres) counts about 1600 inhabitants and there are no large cities within a perimeter of at least 150 miles. The illumination of the small villages in the valley at night is insignificant.
The computed ratio between artificial and natural sky brightness puts AAV Lue-Stailas around classes 2-3 of Bortle's Dark Sky Scale
Numeric models predicting seeing indices in our area estimate an average of 2 arcsec (for 8-14-inch telescopes).
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Categories Seeing
in arc-seconds
V <
0.4
IV ~
0.4-0.9
III ~
1.0-2.0*
II ~
3.0-4.0
I >
4.0
* AAV Lue-Stailas
computed average seeing conditions
Sky visibility
Our skies remain unobstructed down to about 5-15 degrees above the horizon (needs Google Earth). In the north, free skies can be observed down to 25 degrees.
Weather data
Weather station AAV Lue-Stailas (current and last week)
Local weather on Meteoblue
The Lue-centered Clearsky Clock
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