No-Fun City's overcast skies might ruin the year's best meteor-shower extravaganza

I've lost track of the number of times I've previewed a meteor shower on this site only to watch as the clouds move in on the prime sky-watching day (or days).

Vancouver's past rep (not really all that deserved) as No-Fun City sometimes seems to have moved from its nightlife (or lack of it) to its night skies.

This is all by way of moaning that the meteor-spotting gods seem to have deserted us just as the reliably spectacular Geminid meteor shower is about to enter its peak days: Thursday night and Friday morning (December 13 and 14).

This annual extravaganza—so named because the "radiant" (or starting) point of its prolific "shooting star" display seems to originate in the constellation Gemini—has produced as many as 160 meteors per hour in recent years, with the best viewing time starting at about 2 a.m. in the Northern Hemisphere (although the extravaganza is visible almost anywhere on Earth).

The Geminid meteoroids are thought to have originated from an object (sometimes called a "rock comet" or an Earth-crossing asteroid) named 3200 Phaethon. Its shed particles hit our atmosphere at the relatively slow rate (compared to some meteoroids) of about 35 kilometres per second, often burning with a yellowish glow.

It's too bad that the long-range weather reports are calling for pretty much nonstop cloudy skies and rain over Vancouver and much of the Lower Mainland for the next week or more, especially since the bright moon, which can wash out so many meteors for viewers, will be setting early Thursday night, which would have made for superb viewing.

But weather is notoriously fickle, like Canuck fans in a rebuilding cycle. Maybe those party-hating meteor gods will relent after midnight and reveal a clear patch of sky for an hour or two.

Happy trails.