The
local forecast called for rain around 2 PM. The sky was blue with some nice
cu's in the early morning, but the sky continued to fill up during the early
morning. At 9:30 AM as we drove up to the south launch at Montecucco, cirrus
came in quickly from the west and soon all the ground was shaded and the sky was
gray.

The task committee met at 11 AM after we had all set up and called a short task
up and down the valley. One of the wind dummies was above the launch. The
launching winds were switching between cross from the left and straight in.
There were cu's under the cirrus. The sun would now and then be visible behind
the gray sky.

The safety committee cancelled the task at the pilot briefing. The reasoning was
the launch wasn't safe given the switching winds and that there would be
unacceptable crowding near launch given the weak conditions. Immediately after
the task was cancelled almost all the pilots launched. Launch conditions were
safe and there was no crowding. Pilots found lift and worked up to cloud base a
few thousand feet over launch.

By the time that we left (I was one of five that I saw who broke down), there
was a light sprinkling. The rain continued to be light for an hour or so but got
stronger by 3 PM.

Yesterday I was with Rich Lovelace at the Gubbio turnpoint. I saw the rain to
the south south of the next turnpoint south of Gualdo Tedino. I hurried to get
to it to stay out of the rain. I got a little rain as I left the turnpoint and
headed for goal. Rich didn't rush like I did. When he got within 1.5 kilometers
of the southern turnpoint it was a wall of rain. He couldn't see going further
south and turned around and landed.

50% chance of thunderstorm tomorrow, 40% on Friday.