This infrared picture is taken about 1 hour after the Leonid outburst. Notice that at this moment observers located in the Provence and the Rhone-valley have a clear view to the Leonids. Observers in the coastal areas of the Roussillon and Languedoc too have a clear sky. North Italian observers were very lucky too: the whole Po valley is free of clouds which is not common for this area in november!
Note the difference with respect the picture taken 2 hours earlier. Now some high clouds obscure the sky in the Provence and near Narbonne and Montpellier.
This is a very famous NOAA-picture! The "cigar" of high clouds just north-west of Valencia almost reaches our second station! Visible too are low statuslike clouds further north-west of the "cigar". They probably obscured observations from the Teruel region. We will inform at our well known senior meteorologist Jacob Kuiper of the Royal Dutch Weather Services (KNMI) what caused this phenomenon.
This image proves most of the southern regions of Spain and Portugal are free of clouds. Observers located in this part of Spain and Portugal should have observed the Leonid outburst in all of its glory.
