Total solar eclipse of 21st August 2017

[Beverley Lass]

What a glorious sight .. sadly only via the TV for me.

 

[Stargazer]

Good luck, AderynCoch! We had totality about 11.30 MDT here, and the view was fantastic. There's a lot of smoke haze here but it didn't spoil our view at all. Look for two prominences together on the right side of the sun during the second half of totality.

[Summer Sun]

Tomasz Schafernaker's spot got spoilt by cloud after a sunny start

 

[toggerob]

TWC on a cruise-ship out in the Atlantic, the last observers of this 'Great American Eclipse' before the shadow lifts off the Earth and back into space. Looking forward to the sat24 and Lunar Recon Orbiter's views of this when the timelapses are processed.

[Weather-history]

Well the shadow has left the USA now.

Anyone in the SW got clear skies to catch the tiny eclipse?

[Bristawl Si]

2 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

Well the shadow has left the USA now.

Anyone in the SW got clear skies to catch the tiny eclipse?

Clearish here. Cloud about but at mo the sun is visible.

[knocker]

Nope Stratus

[toggerob]

Pico do Fogo at Cape Verde will be the last terrain to see the Eclipse, albeit partially at 93% on sunset. Maybe with the height any observers could catch the shadow 'lifting' off the Earth but it's all weather dependent.

[AderynCoch]

I really don't know what to say after that. I'll give details later.

Edited August 21, 2017 by AderynCoch

[Daniel*]

You could see bugger all here thick cloud cover across swathes of the country I noted there was some clear spells towards the southwest. I believe only 4% of the sun was obscured by the moon here so not missed much. Stunning photos/footage of totality across the pond, I'll have to go overseas 2090 isn't doable.  

[toggerob]

2026 is our best chance in Europe with the track going across western Iceland, over the Atlantic before re-curving back over Portugal, Spain. Hopefully as with the Turkey 2006 Eclipse that I was lucky enough to see, the weather will be kind.

2027 too, with the path going right across Gibraltar and into North Africa. 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2017 by SNOW_JOKE

[Daniel*]

Now that is cool.

 

[Jo Farrow]

A few were lucky in the UK, totally cloudy for me

 

[Nick L]

Had a breathtakingly stunning experience in Nebraska. Had a stressful chase through a cumulus field but totally worth it. Saw totality perfectly!

[Stargazer]

So pleased to hear you saw it, Nick. We had a great 2 minutes 14 seconds in central Idaho 

[Paul Sherman]

We had 2min 28sec on a small rural road in Wyoming North of Guernsey, as soon as the 3 major models had come together on Sunday evening I knew we were not going to have to worry about cloud in E Central Wyoming. The nearest person we could see to us was about 5 miles away such was the visibility at our point. I hope you can see one of the guests pictures on the facebook link (John Finney) - The experience is surreal and the change from dusky light to dark in a blink of an eye is incredible. I would definately do this again and am already planning USA 2024 which has 4 mins 28 sec totality on April 8th!

 

 

[Weather-history]

On 21 August 2017 at 19:34, Summer Sun said:

Tomasz Schafernaker's spot got spoilt by cloud after a sunny start

 

Why do I feel a lack of sympathy and almost feel like laughing?

Edited August 25, 2017 by Weather-history

[Weather-history]

Some great footage on YouTube. Here's one from on top of mountain, you can actually see the shadow on the ground approaching

 

[AderynCoch]

Okay, I'm late because I only got back from America yesterday and I've been mostly catching up on sleep since then but here goes:

In Carbondale we had perfect weather with unbroken sunshine all day... apart from about 20-30 minutes of cloud blocking the sun. Can you guess when in the day that happened?

The morning had nothing but some high cirrus which didn't get in the way at all. This persisted until first contact just before noon, when small cumulus started to appear but again this wasn't much of a problem - there was a brief covering of the sun about 40 minutes before totality but it couldn't have lasted for more than two minutes.

Then came a couple of bigger clouds - not exactly huge but big enough, slow-moving enough and well-aligned enough to cover the sun for a significant amount of time. This started about 20 minutes before totality and the cursed clouds just wouldn't budge at all. I'd been unlucky before with eclipses (see my post on the first page) but this just took the biscuit. I was so despondent as totality neared... then with about three minutes left the sun - now a slender crescent through the eclipse glasses - re-emerged through a gap to great cheers. Totality now couldn't come quick enough but the sun disappeared again and I missed second contact... but a few seconds later the eclipsed sun appeared through thin cloud and then the corona itself became fully visible in all its glory - a truly wondrous sight, though my reaction at the time wasn't as strong as I was expecting (I think I was more relieved than anything else). In fact, just moments after the event I was already finding it hard to recall the experience as it was so unusual and it all happened so quickly.

The sun began to disappear behind the clouds again just before the end of totality, and I just caught the second diamond ring before it went in again. Five minutes later the sun reappeared for the final time - the disruptive clouds completely vanished and all that remained were sporadic small cumuli which did not cross the sun whatsoever for the rest of the afternoon. I should know because it turned into a hot and sultry day, and I was trudging around in it for about three hours before getting the train north.

I'm honestly not sure if I should be elated or disappointed. I've never felt such ambivalence. The timing of those clouds was appallingly unlucky given how clear the day was overall and they interfered with the build-up and part of totality (I'm sure places nearby must have seen the whole thing unmolested) but on the other hand it was good fortune that I got to see as much totality as I did given the situation leading up to it (and I'm sure some poor sods nearby must have seen nothing of totality). I was so close to complete disaster and it was almost though the sun decided enough was enough and was having none of it. I said I was hoping this would be third time lucky after two previous failed attempts - I'm going to call it second and a half time lucky. At least I got to see it this time - but damn those clouds! I was with a veteran eclipse chaser (he was in Mexico in 1970) and he said this was the most bizarre one he's ever experienced.

I'm definitely glad I went. Those ten days travelling around the US were the trip of a lifetime and Carbondale was a pleasant little town with a nice university campus (I observed the eclipse there next to a tranquil lake). It was nice to see everyone there embracing the event so much, and also a special thank you to the kind folks at the Wesley Foundation who invited us in for some much-appreciated ice cream after the eclipse.

I'm already thinking of 2019 and I'm going if possible (early tip - western Argentina near San Juan looks good due to the Andean rain shadow other places are more iffy).

 

As an aside, here are some August weather observations from my time in America:

Miami - a sauna inside a sweatbox

New Orleans - hot but not as hot as I was expecting given the fearsome reputation of summers in that part of the country. Had a couple of very close lightning strikes with explosion thunder one evening (I was safe under a building)

Carbondale - hot and humid, felt hotter than New Orleans. Such summer days aren't unusual in southern Illinois but I believe this year much of summer has been abnormally cool

Chicago - warm and rather humid. Felt quite fresh compared to where I'd come from. There was a big thunderstorm lighting up the sky when I arrived late at night

Washington D.C. - warm and very humid. Don't think it got above 30C while I was there but I needed a lot of water when I was walking around

Edited August 27, 2017 by AderynCoch

[Stargazer]

Pleased to hear you had a great trip, AderynCoch, and at least managed to see some of the totality. My wife had never seen a total eclipse, and after getting drenched in China in 2009 took a bit of convincing that a trip to see an eclipse would be worthwhile, but we had a great trip in the end.

We both don't mind driving long distances so planned our holiday as a road trip sharing the driving and staying in cheap motels and where we could get a good hotel deal. In the end the itinerary was dictated by where we could get reasonably priced flights and accommodation - we only started booking about 2 months ago and it soon became clear that flights to Las Vegas were less than half the price of any anywhere else and we would have to stay outside the totality zone and drive 100-200 miles to see the eclipse on the day.

In the end we flew to Las Vegas, drove straight out and saw the Grand Canyon the next day then worked our way northwards by the scenic route. Reasonably priced motels are rare anywhere near the Grand Canyon and there is very little accommodation to the north of it so we had to double back for 20 miles before continuing northwards. The temperature peaked at 107F (41+C) at Hoover Dam the first afternoon but the rim of the Grand Canyon was much cooler and quite comfortable at around 80F (27C) maximum. We were lucky to see both the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon on partly cloudy days that were cool for August and gave great cloud effects.

After a couple of days north and south of Salt Lake City including a fantastic hotel suite in Ogden for nearly 2/3 off the usual price, we drove up to Twin Falls and stayed in a motel there either side of the eclipse. We drove 130 miles north and saw the eclipse through rather hazy skies near Mackay, central Idaho. There was a lot made of the possibility of heavy traffic but we started at 5am and were there before 7.30. We stayed around until late afternoon until the traffic had died down and chatted with the locals - the town has 500 inhabitants and had about 2000 visitors on the day.

On the way back we stayed in Salt Lake City where we met friends who were on an organised tour and saw the eclipse in Wyoming. We flew overnight from Las Vegas to Boston, stayed there for the weekend and saw my wife's relatives there before flying back and arriving home this morning. The weather in Boston was partly cloudy and very pleasant with maxima of 23-25C, a bit cooler than normal - in fact it's warmer than that here in Reading today.

Edited August 28, 2017 by Stargazer