A cheap clear sky meter....

[John Duchek]

IR thermometers make a great clear sky meter. I just purchased a
Cen-Tech non-contact pocket thermometer for $9.99 (normally $19.99) at
Harbor Freight. Its range is -27 to 230 F and it also has a clock and
stopwatch for the money. If you point it at external objects you get
the temperature of the object. Point it at clouds and you get the temp
of the cloud bottoms. (last few days here have had the clouds at
around 32 deg while the temp of objects is around 45-55. This morning
I pointed it a clear sky and got a reading of -26 deg. there were a
few very thin clouds and I pointed at them and got +1 degrees. So here
is a temperature sensor that allows you to quantitatively determine
sky clearness (cloud/haze density). All for $10. For whatever that is worth,
John

[Bob_riggs]

John,

How cool (no pun intended )! That's a real score! Thanks for the "heads-up". I'm gonna order mine right now!

CDS!

Bob

[Bob_riggs]

John,

This deal gets better and better. Looks like the one to which you refer is $6.99, not $9.99, per their website. Would you please supply me with a parts number to be sure I'm looking at the same thing?

Thanks, and CDS!

Bob

[tvuejohn]

John,
Thanks for the heads up I just read the post a few minutes ago and with-in 1/2 an hour - I have one in my hand @ $6.99...
(plus a couple of other things I probably didn't need)