Clouded skies, first signs of Spring

The skies again have been (and are) clouded again for a long time here. So I have little in term of observations to report lately. I do hope the conditions improve soon.

This anyway is a strange winter so far. It is the warmest on record since the start of measurements in AD 1706. So far, I measured only two days with the minimum temperature below zero degrees C on the station.

As a result, shrubs and plants are flowering already. Especially the crocuses have been flowering in abundance the past two weeks. Below are two photographs I shot with the Canon Digital Ixus 400 (the same camera used for the satellite imagery). The top one is from last Friday (shot in a small forest nearby), the other one a week earlier. The latter are crocuses in the courtyard of SatTrackCam.

(click images to enlarge)

Current situation

It is back to clouded here. I could not take advantage of the very clear days last weekend, as satellite passes high enough for my location and bright enough were all morning passes. Due to the return of severe insomnia problems, I am back on a 1 week cure of sleeping medication currently, which means it is not a good idea to set the alarm-clock for early in the morning as my docter wants me to sleep at that time.

I did take advantage in the daytime however, by going through the city with my camera. You can see some of these recent photographs of scenic Leiden (single shots as well as composed panorama's) here.

If you hover your mouse over a picture thumbnail before clicking it to view it, the tag on the location where it was taken will highlight on the Leiden map on the page.