Solar eclipse April 8

[woodroe]

Big event for some. 
Lodging along the total eclipse area all but sold out
in this state.
We are about a 20 min. ride south of the total eclipse zone so close enough for us. About 2 min black out about 2 pm here.
Cuts a big swath across the country.

https://bdc2020.o0bc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20240408_eclipse_path.jpg

[21incher]

We are right in the path also and supposedly going to be overcrowded.  They say power could  be an issue with all the solar going down in the middle of the day. 

[ArkansasOaks]

We are right in the middle of the total eclipse and thankfully I'll be working out of town at the time.  My goal is to stay as far away as possible. 

[SwampDonkey]

Going to be pretty much ground zero here. Not a big deal to me, saw one in 1984 wasn't a big deal then either, but was an annular one.  Chances are it will be raining or snowing here anyway.  All on hydro power here, won't miss a beat.

[peakbagger]

April is a low electrical demand season, heating demand is low and cooling is non existent. Its not that hard to deal with predictable events like an eclipse, a lot harder when something like a big transmission line goes down by surprise. Something like an EMP from a solar event is a lot harder to deal with, that is what took a big chunk of Quebec province in 1989.  March 1989 geomagnetic storm - Wikipedia

I live just south of the path of totality in northern NH, at best the weather forecast is 50/50 for clouds, at worst 70/30. The hassle is that if the forecast is good a bunch of people will head north out of southern New England and I 95, I 93, I91 and I 80 can only handle a certain amount of traffic. In general its going to be combination of Memorial Day plus Labor Day traffic. It late on a Monday so folks may head up early but few if any campgrounds are open yet. Snowmachine season will be over but ATV season will not have started yet.  Folks usually find a dirt road into the local national forest and set up a tent but those roads are gated. On the other hand, Monday night everyone is going to be wanting to get home. I 91 in Fairlee VT is down to one lane southbound so that is going to be a parking lot. Some towns are setting up with big events but they were booked out months ago. Reportedly there is not a porta potty available in the region. Just make sure your gas tanks are full as all those cars are going to need to fill up when they get here or heading home. 

[LeeB]

We're in the direct path. I guess I'll start locking the gate beginning on the 6th or so. It's also Lindy's birthday so we'll celebrate that too. 

[SwampDonkey]

Here's some news. 

Niagara Falls in state of emergency over eclipse tourism.

[peakbagger]

Pretty rare for northern NH but its looking like a sunny forecast for eclipse day and the weekend before it. My guess are lots of folks are going to be heading north. Forecast for late week is big rain/snow event so it will be interesting to see where everyone parks. 

[SwampDonkey]

Long range here shows sun from Saturday through to Wednesday up here. Of course that can all change in 2 days. :D Rain/Snow event coming here again for 3rd week in a row on Thursday-Friday this week. Not as long this time. 

[21incher]

We are only supposed to get 3 minutes of total eclipse  .  Right in the middle of my nap time.  They have closed schools and have big shindigs scheduled for 3 minutes   of darkness.  Now they say bring your pets inside so they don't  stare at it and go blind 😲. 

[Don P]

I think the eclipse of 1970 was the one that made the greatest impression on me. Schools were out.  We went to my Mom's folks house where Granddad had made several viewing shadowboxes we could pass amongst the cousins. The chickens started roosting, the cows were befuddled. The moon shot had not been even a year. We had lots of rockets back then, Wallops Island sent up a couple of dozen to check out everything in the atmosphere. There have been more but that is the one that made a real impression. Like most kids of that time, I was ready to go see some space  .

[Southside]

The partial eclipse a few years ago messed up the chickens big time, going to be interesting to see how they all act this go round. 

[SwampDonkey]

The first one I remembered was the annular one in 1984. Was not quite all covered by the moon, but wasn't much fringe light left. Was still in school and of course we got the 'don't look at it without protection' speeches. I don't know how humanity could have survived so long without 'experts' telling us not to look. What I do remember being told was that it was similar to a welder's flash. You won't feel the burning itch in your eyes until the next day. Of course my brother tried welding without a welder's helmet and found out the next day.  

[woodroe]

Its been 60 years since the last total solar eclipse here in this area. July 20, 1963.
I remember it pretty well. Was 6 years old , folks loaded up the kids in the family car
and we went to a large open area a few miles away, viewed it through a homemade
viewing device my dad made.

[SawyerTed]

Gonna be like a football game or NASCAR race for me, better to see it on TV...

I still have the shoebox viewer I made for the 2017 eclipse here.   

[peakbagger]

The current forecast for Northern NH is sunny Sunday and Monday with 18 to 24" of snow just south of the band of totality a few days before. Possibly 12" in the path. Mud season means the frost is coming out of the roads, so the towns try to underplow the road so they dont take up the gravel or pavement. My guess is lots of money to be made with tow strap pulling cars out of ditches. 

[Ljohnsaw]

Maybe I should post this in the Wake Up Call for Green Energy...

My son and I took the 10-12 hour ride up to Oregon/Idaho area to see the 2017 eclipse that gave us a little over 2 minutes of totality. Awesome.

Then started planning for this one. Four and a half minutes of totality! Leaving for Texas tomorrow in my son's new Tesla model 3. Taking my sister and will be staying at her youngest daughter's house just NW of Dallas. Looks like scattered showers on the long range forecast  but we'll make the best of it.

First night we'll stay in another sister's place in Kingman, AZ.  From there, we're going to hit the Grand Canyon on the way out and stop in Winslow, AZ and a few more places along the way. Three, maybe four days driving each way.

Not many trees in AZ and NM, so don't imagine too many FF members to visit along that route.

[barbender]

There's plenty of trees in both of those states, depending on location. 

[aigheadish]

I'm in the path of totality at my house and I'm pretty excited. It looks like, as of now, we'll be getting most of the rain and clouds out of the way this week. I think they are calling for partly cloudy on Monday. 

I've invited a bunch of people over to watch but nary a single rsvp... We'll see if that continues, and oh well if it does. 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

My son was over for supper with us yesterday.  He works on the maintenance crew of a large state park near here.  He told me the park managers are in a panic over how many visitors the park is expecting as it is in the path of totality.  Which I suppose must be a cool way of saying you can see it from there.

The maintenance guys are only worried over parking. With all the rain the ground is wicked soft and folks will be getting stuck.

Probably be raining Monday and nobody will see a thing.  As for myself I'd trade away a ring side seat in the "path of totality" for a few days of dry weather with out a second thought so I could get some logs on the landing.   

[beenthere]

There are cloud maps being updated daily for the eclipse path. This is one from the NYTimes saying it will be updated.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/science/solar-eclipse-cloud-cover-forecast-map.html

Should all go visit Swampdonkey, looks like.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, according to the long range Sunday through Wednesday that week is wide open skies here. And the path is right over head of the house. We are going to get another rain/snow storm for 2-1/2 days before though. Been one of them storms every week for a month now.  In the middle of building the shop here, so maybe we can celebrate that to.

[Don P]

Wallops Island will be launching 3 rockets during the eclipse to research the effects on the ionosphere and communications. One each, 45 minutes before, mid eclipse, and 45 minutes after. We still got da rockets 


Mission:  Apophis 2 (APEP 2)
Vehicle:  3 Black Brant IX sounding rockets 
Date:  April 8, 2024
Time:  2:40 p.m.- 4:05 p.m. EDT. Rockets are scheduled to launch approximately 45 minutes apart.
Location: Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia

[SwampDonkey]

Might as well lite'm if you got'm. 

[Southside]

Great - so the sun is going to go out and then missiles will start to fly - someone will think it's the end of the world.