Weather at Sierra Negra: 7.3-year statistics and a new method to estimate the temporal fraction of cloud cover

Sierra Negra, one of the highest peaks in central Mexico, is the site of the Large Millimeter Telescope. We describe the first results of a comprehensive analysis of the weather data measured in situ from 2000 October to 2008 February to be used as a reference for future activity in the site. We compare the data from two different stations at the summit considering the accuracy of both instruments...