Black Canyon stargazing forecast — Friday, August 14

Western CO · Bortle 2 · 38.575, -107.702 · Snapshot generated Sat, 15 Aug 2026 02:05:07 GMT

Fair (Medium confidence)

Short 2h window, otherwise mean cloud 73%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

Best observing window tonight

Fri 10:00 p.m. – Fri 11:00 p.m. (2h, 3% mean cloud)

Astronomical night: Fri 2:06 p.m. → Sat 12:25 a.m.
Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated
Mean cloud (during night): 73% (min 2%)

Site

Black Canyon of the Gunnison drops nearly half a mile straight down to the river below, and its rim stays open around the clock for stargazing. The park runs a well-established astronomy program and hosts an annual regional AstroFest with partner Curecanti.

Drive from Toronto: The South Rim entrance is off Highway 347, about 15 miles east of Montrose, Colorado.

Best time of year: Summer for warmer nights and the AstroFest weekend (usually September); the park never closes overnight.

Open the live 48-hour forecast →

Citations & data sources

Open-Meteo Forecast API (cloud, humidity, wind, visibility)
Open-Meteo astronomical data (sunrise, sunset, moon)
Bortle scale reference for site darkness
Editorial guide for Black Canyon: /sites/black-canyon-gunnison-np.txt
Structured site data: /sites/black-canyon-gunnison-np.json
Live MCP server (AI agents): https://koohxdehsweadgdegrly.supabase.co/functions/v1/mcp

This is a build-time snapshot — the live forecast at https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=black-canyon-gunnison-np updates continuously.