I can finally report another look at P1, after a number of days of
being thwarted by the weather. However, I will note that about five
minutes before the comet appeared below the cloud deck in the west
that I experienced a brief rain shower!

The comet was first spotted with handheld 15x70B at 22:07UT (sunset
+25 minutes). By 22:14UT I could detect it with the unaided eye and
followed it so until it was just one degree from the horizon. It was
never a truly obvious object to the unaided eye and clearly was still
several magnitudes fainter than Venus, the only comparison object I
had available because of clouds.

With mounted 15x80B is obtained the following data at Jan. 8.93UT, m1
= -1 , dia = ~1', tail 0.3* in pa 015*.

Nice object, reminding me somewhat of Comet West when I saw it in
daylight but less imposing.

JBortle