Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024

[Gumby]

No, I didn't know that so I did an internet search. San Antonio will be 99.99% totality. Our hotel is in downtown SanAntonio so we will probably stay there. I imagine traffic will be unbearable to get to Kerville, but if I find out it isn't, I will do exactly that. Thanks for letting me know.

You won't have to go all the way to Kerrville. If you just drove ten miles northwest, say to the Ingram Park Mall parking lot, you would get ~1 minute and 40 seconds of totality.

 

[SecondCor521]

No, I didn't know that so I did an internet search. San Antonio will be 99.99% totality. Our hotel is in downtown SanAntonio so we will probably stay there. I imagine traffic will be unbearable to get to Kerville, but if I find out it isn't, I will do exactly that. Thanks for letting me know.

As several folks have mentioned, getting *to* the eclipse traffic really isn't bad at all. Getting back home *from* the eclipse can take 2x or 3x normal times or more.

 

[REWahoo]

No, I didn't know that so I did an internet search. San Antonio will be 99.99% totality. Our hotel is in downtown SanAntonio so we will probably stay there. I imagine traffic will be unbearable to get to Kerville, but if I find out it isn't, I will do exactly that. Thanks for letting me know.

You can use this map of the eclipse path to zoom in and see that downtown San Antonio is just outside the path of totality. You will need to be at least a few miles to the northwest of downtown when the eclipse hits totality around 1:30.

One suggestion is to drive to a restaurant for lunch in or around Helotes - I highly recommend the El Chaparral and they have a nice sized parking lot. You would be all set to then hang out in their parking lot until the big event hits. The linked map says totality at that location should last 2 minutes, 46 seconds.

No one here knows what to expect when it comes to traffic that day, but Helotes is only 20 miles from downtown and is usually less than an hour drive during rush hour, so plan accordingly.

 

[Ronstar]

^^ Thanks for the link. Think I'll go for a burger, fries and a shake at the Steak and Shake in Franklin, Indiana within a couple blocks of the center path of totality.

 

[DrRoy]

We are going to stay the night before at my SIL's near Columbus OH and then drive to the center of totality to view. I got a 20 stop filter to try and get photos. Hope its clear!

 

[wearefinishedworking]

Weather is looking good for New York/Erie area. We have 2 nights booked. Should be an adventure!

 

[braumeister]

My plan has always been to look at the weather on the morning of the 8th and then decide where to drive to.
I can go north, northwest, or west for less than two hours to get to the center of the totality path, but right now the long range forecast is looking pretty dismal.

In truth, I have never had much faith in long range forecasts, but we'll see.

 

[donheff]

I’m watching the weather. We have a place to stay in Cleveland but the weather looks iffy.

 

[Car-Guy]

Chance of rain and 80% cloud cover forecast for around here on Monday so it's not looking great. Well it will still get pretty dark I guess even if we can't catch a glimpse of the actual eclipse in cereal box viewers that I built today.

 

[Jerry1]

Yeah, I’m getting a little disappointed looking at the forecast. I live in MI and was hoping I could make a quick drive down to OH even if I only got a couple minutes of totality. Doesn’t look good at all. Still, on the 8th I’ll make my decision. Thankfully, having seen the one in 2017, this one was just a bonus.

 

[yakers]

Another way to do it

Anther way to do it, DS & DIL are Burners (Burning man) and their tribe is gathering for a several day music festival near Austin TX, and to make good use of the eclipse, during the 4:20 min of darkness they will have blow out fireworks

 

[tutan]

If raining and cloudy, it’ll be even darker. I guess that will be something.The next total solar eclipse visible in the U.S. will be on August 12, 2045 according to Wikipedia. It’ll be disappointing to miss this one Monday.

 

[braumeister]

If raining and cloudy, it’ll be even darker.

True, but the whole point IMO is to be able to see the corona. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Otherwise, no big deal to wait another 21 years for the next one.

 

[CardsFan]

I think we are going to stay home. We had an Incredible viewing in 2017 at our friend's farm. Totality for over a minute. 30 or 40 of us in the middle of nowhere (Near Mineloa, MO), drinking Bloody Mary's. Can't beat that.

 

[Chuckanut]

I’m watching the weather. We have a place to stay in Cleveland but the weather looks iffy.

Here's one meteorologist's thoughts on the jet stream and the eclipse.

I am not near enough to expect much eclipse action on the 8th. Maybe I'll take an extra long nap.

https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-subtropical-jetsteam-versus-total.html

We are now close enough to the April 8 total eclipse that the skill of our models is now appreciable.And many of these increasingly skillful forecasts indicate a real threat to good viewing over Texas and much of the Midwest, where many plan to go.
A double threat exists: clouds associated with two features: the subtropical jet and a low-pressure area moving in from the southwest U.S.
This blog will describe these important features and the current uncertainties in the forecast.

 

[jollystomper]

Where we are planning to go currently shows mostly sunny Sunday and Tuesday... but variable cloudiness on Monday. We have until Saturday night to make a final call without hotel penalty. Still planning on going for now.

 

[Chuckanut]

84% blackout is a non-event. You would hardly notice it. Even the moments just before totality are not particularly striking. 100% is a different animal.

Not sure about that. Sometimes it's more interesting to look at the shadows on the ground and notice that they all show the eclipse in some way. The shadow patterns are 'interesting'.

 

[Fermion]

I think there are going to be a lot of hotels which were counting their money while sitting at the table, only to find mass cancellations.

 

[Kayzmum]

Eyeglasses for Eclipse

What are all you folks going to use for eye protection.
I see a lot of non-certified cardboard glasses for sale.

How does a person buy a pair and confirm they are not fake ?

I bought some at Lowe's, $2 each. The brand was recommended on what seemed to be a reliable source.

 

[Kayzmum]

You can use this map of the eclipse path to zoom in and see that downtown San Antonio is just outside the path of totality. You will need to be at least a few miles to the northwest of downtown when the eclipse hits totality around 1:30.

One suggestion is to drive to a restaurant for lunch in or around Helotes - I highly recommend the El Chaparral and they have a nice sized parking lot. You would be all set to then hang out in their parking lot until the big event hits. The linked map says totality at that location should last 2 minutes, 46 seconds.

No one here knows what to expect when it comes to traffic that day, but Helotes is only 20 miles from downtown and is usually less than an hour drive during rush hour, so plan accordingly.

You got us thinking.... there's a shopping center near that restaurant. I want to try to get there super early. I would hate to wait too long and not be able to get an Uber or something when it gets closer. So, we will eat and walk around the shopping center and watch it from there. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[SecondCor521]

The concerns about cloudiness may be overblown. (I hope so, I'm flying to Texas Sunday!)

The eclipse totality (which is the super cool part) lasts about five minutes, and is only in the portion of the sky where the Sun and Moon are, and they only take up half of a degree. I'm not sure on the trigonometry on that, but it seems much less than 1% of the sky.

So to miss the eclipse, you'd have to have that specific <1% of the sky obscured during that exact five minute window. Possible, and surely it will happen to some along the eclipse path, but far from a guarantee.

 

[DrRoy]

We plan to drive into totality in OH from MI. Hope we can see it!

 

[schenbew]

Cloud Coverage Forecasting Site

Here is a good site that is looking at the probabilities of cloud coverage across the nation based on several different weather models.

Accuracy beyond 3 days is low, so take with a grain of salt until Saturday. However, it's worth noting the trend as it develops.

https://www.pivotalweather.com/eclipse2024/

Here is a screenshot of their latest model run - lower #s are better and signify less cloud coverage:

 

[schenbew]

NWS Eclipse Cloud Coverage Site

Here is the NWS Prediction Center Site...useful but not as much data as the Pivotal site.

https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/index.shtml#page=ovw

Here is a screenshot of the NWS latest eclipse cloud coverages - will update at 2pm today:

 

[sengsational]

Too bad the weather isn't shaping up as well as it could have. I was hoping a big high was parked over the center of the continent. All of my inquiries to splitting a small aircraft charter for up and back on the same day went to crickets. At $1700 per person, it was a true BTD proposal. Easier to accept without the promise of CAVU.