Revised SJAA Cancellation Policy

As winter weather approaches Houge Park events will again be subject to weather. A thick cloud cover will cancel the event just as thoroughly as a monsoon! If the cloud cover is thin enough so we can see the moon, planets, or bright stars we will try to show something. Unfortunately, none of us have cloud filters and our scopes don’t have umbrellas.

Instead of making everyone come to Houge to learn the event is canceled, SJAA will now begin notifying people via the web site (and if possible via phone hot line). We will also try to send messages via sjaa-announce and TAC; however due to limitations with our website, the former may not arrive before the event.

The status will be posted in the “Schedule of Events” at the top of the SJAA web site a minimum of Two Hours before a Houge Star Party as one of the following:

Green The star party will occur as scheduled. Expect a full complement of visitors and scopes. Note if the weather is obviously clear then we may not post this.

Yellow The event will occur as scheduled, but due to questionable weather there may be fewer scopes then are normally at Houge.

Red The event is canceled. Please stay home and enjoy some hot chocolate (or whatever).

If the cell containing “Schedule of Events” is white it means no one has posted status. Assume the party is on. Canceling the star party does not affect the beginner’s class. The beginner’s astronomy class is held regardless of the weather.

If you can’t access the web before coming to Houge then we suggest a simple rule If the Lights are on, the party is offSJAA always shuts the parking lot lights off at or near sunset. If there are clouds in the sky and the lights in the parking lot are still lit, go home. There may be someone there, but generally it means we canceled the party two hours ago.

We are looking at putting a cancellation sign at Houge, but the lights are a sure signal that SJAA is not there.