Frantic New Year's Dawn observing - Saturn

I've been clouded out so often and for so long periods of time that I usually have to wait for consecutive days of clear weather so as not to get my hopes up.

Last night (Dec 31, 2011), Clear Sky Chart was predicting a window of clear skies from midnight to 6AM of Jan 1, 2012. I say to myself, "That can't be right because we are expecting 8"of snow later that same day." I went to bed.

I woke up around 6AM the next day, took a peek outside my window and .. I .. see.. stars. I quickly jump out of bed, dress up as warmly as I can, check Stellarium to see what's up (Saturn!), grab my scope and head outside.

After 5 minutes of twisting my head around, trying to identify the constellations, I found Saturn and Spica (in Virgo).

Saturn was clear, though small, even with my 12mm + 2x Barlow. Makes one realize that this planet, though comparable to Jupiter in size, is much farther away. Didn't see any of the moons.

Did some starhopping around Bootes and Virgo (wasn't able to split any of the double stars) until the clouds start to roll in from the West, lit up by the pre-dawn Sun. Total observing time was just under 40 minutes.

Never will I doubt Clear Sky Chart again.