Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024

[GalaxyBoy]

Yes, it’s fascinating. It’’s like having hundreds of little eclipse shadow watching devices at your feet.

I plan to try using a kitchen colander for this effect. About a hundred little pinhole cameras projecting images of the partial eclipse. Venetian blinds also do this via the holes in the slats for the cords to pass through. I recall pointing this out to a co-worker years ago during a partial eclipse and he refused to believe that he was seeing images of the sun and not shadows assuming the shapes of the holes, despite the fact the holes' shapes bore no resemblance to the images. You'd think an engineer with supposedly a background in the sciences would know this, but hey.

I am sitting this one out despite my interest in astronomy. I expect it will be more spectacular than 2017 given that we are near solar maximum, but April weather is just too fickle in North America. Who would have bet that Texas would have worse prospects than Maine?

 

[Gumby]

So far, my viewing spot shows 9% cloud cover and 0% thickness in the short range ensemble.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

It will likely be cloudy in Austin where I am, I'll be selling some new, unused eclipse glasses Tuesday. Actually, I'll hold onto them for August 23, 2044 when my house will be in the path of totality... I'll also be celebrating my 23rd year of FIRE which will be the same length of time as my "career" job -what better way to celebrate than with an Eclipse over your house? Still hoping and even if cloudy it will be dark at the wrong time of day.

 

[Car-Guy]

It will likely be cloudy in Austin where I am, I'll be selling some new, unused eclipse glasses Tuesday. Actually, I'll hold onto them for August 23, 2044 when my house will be in the path of totality... I'll also be celebrating my 23rd year of FIRE which will be the same length of time as my "career" job -what better way to celebrate than with an Eclipse over your house? Still hoping and even if cloudy it will be dark at the wrong time of day.

I won't need any glasses of any kind well before 2044. Anyway, 6' of earth should block out all harmful rays.

 

[W2R]

If predictions are correct, we'll have 87% cloud cover on the 8th. But then, who knows about predictions? Anyway, I'm glad we decided not to make a "big deal" out of seeing or not seeing the eclipse. We have had our safe eclipse sunglasses for years so we don't have to buy them. We are excited about the eclipse, though, and will be happy either way. If we see anything, well that's great, but if we don't, well, we've seen other partial eclipses before and might see more in the years to come.

 

[GenXguy]

I could drive several hours one way to get to the center of a path of totality with a favorable forecast, but it's just not worth it to me. If it was just a two hour drive, I would probably go through with it.

 

[gailwinters]

We’re driving to our hotel in W. TN tomorrow, and we’ll travel to our viewing area in MO. on Monday. My SIL is a meteorologist and he is very optimistic that our viewing will be good!

 

[statsman]

With the latest weather predictions, we're looking at scattered thunderstorms starting about an hour before the eclipse for us in Central Texas, with a high probability of completely cloudy skies. This leads into a 5+ hour window of thunderstorms, and this window keeps getting earlier with each updated predictions.

Two days ago, the chance of thunderstorms wasn't predicted until an hour or so after the eclipse. At the rate it's going, the eclipse may occur in the middle of that 5+ hour thunderstorm window. Oh well, we'll still have the impact of darkening skies, thunderstorms or scattered thunderstorms. We'll also be watching our three indoor-only cats to see how they react.

Nothing against the eclipse, but if the storm front coming through drops at least 0.5" of rainfall on Monday, for an area of Texas still fighting drought conditions and outdoor water restrictions, I'll take it!

 

[jfn111]

We’re driving to our hotel in W. TN tomorrow, and we’ll travel to our viewing area in MO. on Monday. My SIL is a meteorologist and he is very optimistic that our viewing will be good!

Heading to MO also. So far the outlook looks good. We also picked up tickets to the Cardinal game on Mon. night to check out that stadium.

 

[Ronstar]

Heading to the outskirts of Indianapolis. Meeting up with my niece, her husband and kids. We need to find a playground to keep the kids occupied.

 

[Fermion]

We are going to be heading to Cape Girardeau, MO, along with 15,242,566 friends. Should be easy parking.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Voice of experience from 2017: don't expect your cell phone to work due to overloaded networks, and plan on getting stuck in traffic for hours (gas up and pack snacks).

Good luck to all who are attempting to see this amazing coincidence of nature!

 

[GenXguy]

Voice of experience from 2017: don't expect your cell phone to work due to overloaded networks, and plan on getting stuck in traffic for hours (gas up and pack snacks).

Good luck to all who are attempting to see this amazing coincidence of nature!

I just happened to see a report last evening that cell phone networks have expanded in recent years over the path of totality as well as adding 5G. It should be better than 2017. But still, don't be surprised if there are problems.

Regarding those old and unused eclipse glasses, I saw that they expire and that you shouldn't reuse those old ones from 2017. Also there are a lot of fakes that don't provide sufficient blocking. You shouldn't be able to see anything through them except the sun. And if there's even some slight damage or a fold in the lens, you shouldn't use them.

Also, don't use regular sunglasses to look at the sun is something they pointed out. Everyone should know that.

 

[CardsFan]

Also, don't use regular sunglasses to look at the sun is something they pointed out. Everyone should know that.

I happened to catch a local TV station yesterday giving "tips" for the eclipse. The number 1 "tip" was to not wear the eclipse glasses while driving

 

[ERD50]

Voice of experience from 2017: don't expect your cell phone to work due to overloaded networks, and plan on getting stuck in traffic for hours (gas up and pack snacks).

Good luck to all who are attempting to see this amazing coincidence of nature!

It just occurred to me, I need to download Google maps for Indy today, so they are local to my phone/tablet. I don't want to count on cell service for that!

-ERD50

 

[Car-Guy]

I live about 25 miles from the edge of the path for the total eclipse so I'm not planning on going anywhere. BUT now severe storms and 70 to 80% cloud cover are predicted for most of the afternoon. Bummer.

 

[braumeister]

Assuming you have extra eclipse glasses, you can hold one over the lens of your smartphone to get a good photo of it. You might want to try that today for practice.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

And don’t try looking through unfiltered binoculars or a telescope wearing eclipse glasses. The concentrated rays of the sun will quickly burn a hole in the glasses.

 

[Ronstar]

Voice of experience from 2017: don't expect your cell phone to work due to overloaded networks, and plan on getting stuck in traffic for hours (gas up and pack snacks).

Good luck to all who are attempting to see this amazing coincidence of nature!

2017 we were in rural Missouri and it wasn’t too crowded there. Now in Indianapolis and there are signs on the interstate warning of crowds. We may leave early and head southwest a ways.

 

[ERD50]

2017 we were in rural Missouri and it wasn’t too crowded there. Now in Indianapolis and there are signs on the interstate warning of crowds. We may leave early and head southwest a ways.

My Son in law and I are leaving SW Chicago burbs for Indy ~ 5:30 AM, that hopefully gives us enough time.

Any feeling on what the traffic might be like in the AM? We have rooms for the night, so leaving later Tues should be no problem.

Would there be a good Twitter/X feed for this? I'm not experienced with that. SIL will have Waze, etc. so that should help once we are on the road.

-ERD50

 

[Ronstar]

My Son in law and I are leaving SW Chicago burbs for Indy ~ 5:30 AM, that hopefully gives us enough time.

Any feeling on what the traffic might be like in the AM? We have rooms for the night, so leaving later Tues should be no problem.

Would there be a good Twitter/X feed for this? I'm not experienced with that. SIL will have Waze, etc. so that should help once we are on the road.

-ERD50

I sense traffic will be bad in the am. Digital signs on the interstate are saying get to your spot early, stay a long time and leave late.
Normally I would think you’d be ok leaving at 5:30, but I’m not sure. I don’t know twitter so I can’t help you there

 

[street]

I sense traffic will be bad in the am. Digital signs on the interstate are saying get to your spot early, stay a long time and leave late.
Normally I would think you’d be ok leaving at 5:30, but I’m not sure. I don’t know twitter so I can’t help you there

I watched it in 2017 with welding helmet. It was a beautiful sunny day in Mt and it wasn't a full but it was pretty exciting to watch. It got dark and reminded me of a thunderstorm coming when it gets dark just before.

I have a sister in Terra Haute and said a lot of people coming to the area. Be a fun adventure for sure.

 

[Fermion]

Both Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff are mostly sunny at 1pm and 2pm

Now to just get there. Its 3:17am here north of Memphis.

 

[Ronstar]

I watched it in 2017 with welding helmet. It was a beautiful sunny day in Mt and it wasn't a full but it was pretty exciting to watch. It got dark and reminded me of a thunderstorm coming when it gets dark just before.

I have a sister in Terra Haute and said a lot of people coming to the area. Be a fun adventure for sure.

Your sister in Terre Haute should have a good eclipse day except for the traffic. She’s in totality area.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I have my trusty funnel.