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wxeyeNH

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  1. wxeyeNH
    Time for another post about this total eclipse. I have seen 3 partials, 1 annular and one total. Aruba 1998. From the beach. Almost a 3 minute eclipse. Total blows everything else out of the water. Photographers were set up all around me. I decided not to bother with cameras. So many wondrous things happen so fast. Not just the sun but the rapidly changing twlight all around me. The planets, stars, the eerie light on the hills. There will be a zillion pictures/videos on the web. Grab a couple of pictures just to say you were there but every second that you play with lens and exposures are seconds lost taking in the whole experience. It does go by ultra fast!
  2. wxeyeNH
    Maybe I can make this a bit more clear. It is where the shadow falls off the earth. It's the place where as the sun rises or sets its alreadly in total eclipse. 2024 is going to be a nice eclipse. Moon's orbit will be closer so a wider path. Wider path means darker skies at center line. Next weeks eclipse is 70 miles wide so even if you are at center line the sun will be shinning 35 miles to your north or south. So it will get twlight but not pitch dark unless there is thick cloud cover as the sunlight on the horizons have a lot of cloud angle to penetrate. Another point. The sun angle is now moving southward each day as August moves on. So the southern horizon would have more light. If I were picking a spot I would be a bit north of center line so more of the south sky is darkened. Of course weather is the wildcard. There could be a tropical system heading in from the islands. Let's hope that doesn't happen or at least delayed....
  3. wxeyeNH
    I'm so frustrated today. My Mom, sister, brother in law and niece all live in Bend Oregon. About 25 miles south of totality. As someone who has seen a total eclipse and knows how mind blowing beautiful it is I have been trying to get my family to go just a bit north to get under totality. No go. Mother says too much traffic. Brother in law and niece say they can't get the day off. My sister is off and keeps saying 99.5% coverage is good enough and she is staying put. Arrgghhh....
  4. wxeyeNH
    2 weeks from right now it begins. The greatest celestial event for the US in 100 years. As one of a select few that have seen a total eclipse I wish I could transport all you guys into the path of totality. Words just can't describe how awesome it is. Starting to watch the weather patterns. Will monsoon moisture move north into the NW and muck viewing up like it is doing today? Will a tropical system threaten viewing in the SE? Fingers crossed...
  5. wxeyeNH
    I think I posted this before.... Cu and Eclipses... When I went to Aruba and watched the 3 minute AWESOME total eclipse in Feb 1998. Early afternoon in the tropics. We stayed at the Marriott right on the beach on the north side of the island. A 3 minute total. Wow, watching a total on a tropical beach is indescribable. Anyhow... South side of the island, 10-15 miles south had a bit longer eclipse. So many astronomers eclipse buffs decided to head there. About 30- 45 minutes before eclipse totality a Cu field formed on the south side of the island. Wow, a crazy traffic jam as everyone quickly relocated north. So lesson is, if the weather is good but there are Cu watch the direction and get ready to move quickly right before totality. One cloud at the wrong 2 minutes and your screwed. Cell service will probably be over stretched so getting 4G Satellite pictures and weather updates might be hard on Monday. Locate someplace that if you have to move you can! We are weather freaks so we know cloud direction potenial convective blow ups etc. Average Joe doesn't and will be hunkered down a couple of hours before totality. Have your car in a place you can move if necessary. Sure, large synoptic weather systems can be forecasted days before but afternoon scattered convection can not. Remember everything happens at totality... 2024 will be a better eclipse. Longer eclipse, wider totality path. Darker sky at centerline.... Early April can be very fickle but if you love this one (you will) you will already be thinking about the next. We had to book Aruba years in advance 2045 Looks to be even better. I'll be 89 years old so not thinking about that one too much!!
  6. wxeyeNH
    Okay, I'm a photographer and weather enthusiast. 60 years old. I have seen 4 solar eclipses. 2 partials. 1 annular. One FANTASTIC solar that blows everything else out of the water. Sure you can photograph it. Lighting conditions change rapidly. Really need a telephoto lens. If you are lucky enough to view this eclipse don't bother with the cameras and photography. There will be so many photos, videos of this that unless you need to take some pictures to prove you were there, just enjoy the 2 minutes. Every second that your playing with a lens or looking through a camera viewfinder is a second lost. Enjoy the rapidly changing conditions and not only as to what is happening on the sun but also what is happening all around the sky. I don't remember any air shimmering when I saw mine. What was fascinating was watching the wall of darkness descend so quickly and then leave so quickly. As far as your star question it will get dark enough to see 4 planets and a few brighter stars. Each eclipse is different. When the moon is closer to the sun the eclipse is longer and the path wider. So if your near the centerline it is darker than an eclipse that is shorter. Hence, more stars and planets. This eclipse is not a particularly long eclipse so its will not be very dark. The areas near the horizon will be well lit so its more like kinda late evening with the sky still having some brightness. If you are on the edge of totality then the sky is even brighter. Weatherwise, it depends on the time of day that you are viewing the eclipse. For instance if you are watching from Oregon at 10am the temperature is not going to drop very much because its morning anyhow and the atmosphere has not had time to warm. Probably watching from South Carolina in the afternoon would be a different story. I didn't notice anything about wind or changes when I watched. I have heard lots about animals. The resort we stayed at had parrots and tropical birds. The birds were in cages around the property. I'm no bird expert but I had noticed in the days before the eclipse that the staff rolled in the cages before nightfall. Of course no one thought of this and the parrots were screeching. I could hear them from the beach. They did not like what was happening. Oh, one more thing. Bring binoculars. Be very careful to wait until complete totality and make sure you put them down before any sunlight at end but a close look at the sun is fantastic if you do it carefully.
  7. wxeyeNH
    Couple of comments as someone that has seen a total solar eclipse. Watched from the beach in Aruba in Feb 1998. Amazing, stunning, awe struck experience. Something to tell the grandkids. The 2 or 3 minutes go by so fast. I know people want to take pictures/videos etc. but enjoy the eclipse. Watching the sun is absolutely amazing but also watching the environment. The curtain of darkness descend and then pass by. The weird color of any clouds around. There will be endless pictures and videos for download and watching. Be in the moment and don't spend precious seconds trying to adjust cameras and settings to the rapidly changing light conditions. Of course once the diamond ring has passed you can look up. Even take binoculars to look closely at the sun. Bailey's beads. Seeing the sun through the valleys and hills on the moon. So neat. It was really fun watching the eclipse with thousand of others. Like I posted before, people literally crying it was so beautiful. I was thinking about this eclipse. It's like eating dog food your whole life and never tasting anything else. Then someone trying to explaining to you how good a 5 star meal at a restaurant would taste like. You could imagine but would have no conceptual concept because you have never experienced something like it. That is how totality is. Here is a short video of the eclipse I saw. Turn the sound up and listen to the people and there comments as the eclipse happens!
  8. wxeyeNH
    Long Beach. Glad your going to try to view this. This is going to be quite an experiment for the highway system especially if the weather is looking good in the days before the eclipse. I could see the highways like Rt 85 Rt 95 being bumper to bumper as hundred of thousands of people all travel down at the same time. Just really nothing to compare this too. If it were me I would try to drive down a couple of days before. I know that adds to the cost. Get a hotel outside of the eclipse zone and then travel into the zone during the night time hours of Sunday night. Perhaps in smaller non interstate roads. Don't know how this is going to play out. Maybe not a big traffic deal or maybe like a hurricane watch and everyone wanting to leave the coast all at once. Found this interesting website and traffic tips/info.. https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/statistics/
  9. wxeyeNH
    This link was posted on another thread but really is very neat. It predicts traffic for the eclipse. https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/statistics/
  10. wxeyeNH
    My 80 year old Mother lives in Bend. So does my sister, brother in law and niece. They will be about 20 miles south of totality. Bend/Redman/Madras traffic jams are going to be crazy. No highway systems out there. If it looks like coastal Oregon will be fogged in (its a morning eclipse) then all those people will want to come over the Cascades to the east side. My family keeps telling me that 99% coverage is good enough and they are not dealing with traffic. They are driving me crazy cause they could find the local gravel back roads and get 30 miles north. Has to be scouted out before hand. Even sitting in a car for 20 hours and using the dessert for a pee is worth this.. One more musing. Watch the sky during the partial phase. Normally at sunset the lower atmosphere is shadowed while above is in the sunlight. So the sky slowly darkens. Because during the eclipse the lower and upper atmosphere is shadowed at the same time the sky turns a deep, deep blue around the 80% plus partial. I don't think that wildfire or summer haze will make too much of a difference. The particles are all in shadow. As I keep saying being close to centerline is very important but cloudiness is the most important. Watching weather satellites in the hours before will show what is upstream. If it looks like Anvil blowoffs etc. could cross toward centerline then opt for a shorter eclipse and go north or south. Wyoming is great because there is such low population that like a tornado chase you can stay mobile! Oh, bring binoculars. Spectacular during totality to look at the sun's atmosphere close up. Of course you need totality!
  11. wxeyeNH
    Hi Jerry, I just typed up this long message and was going to send it to you privately but AMWX says you can't receive messages. I just realized that there is a whole eclipse thread. I'll go read it. I'll post what I wrote here in case any info benefits others. Enjoy the eclipse! Hi Jerry, You'll love the eclipse. Nature wise it has been the highlight of my life. Far better than any weather event. Perhaps the only thing that could top it is a tornado chase where a strong tornado would pass fairly close by. People are just so clueless as to how great they are. Anyone within a day's driving distance from totality is crazy not to get into it. I may catch a plane and fly to Charlotte and then drive into SC if the weather looks good. Have to see what is going weather wise but we will have a pretty good idea 48 hours in advance. Lets hope there is not some type of large synoptic system coming north out of the Gulf to screw the whole area up. That's the tough part. One cloud, one shower at the wrong 2 minutes and your screwed. Late August afternoons down south are notorious for pop up storms. Watch out in Metro Nashville. South of the city misses out and the whole city will close that Monday. Possibility of huge traffic jams as people try to relocate. Getting away from the city by 50 miles might help staying mobile with less traffic. The eclipse I saw in Aruba was a bit longer. Depending on where the moon is in relation to the sun makes the eclipse longer or shorter. The longer the eclipse the wider the totality path and the darker the sky is towards the center. This path is only 65 miles wide so the sky will still be bright to the south and north of centerline. It will not matter much as far as what you see looking at the sun but close to centerline makes the whole landscape darker and adds to the experience. Up here in NH we had an annular eclipse. May 1994 I believe. Sun was about 90% covered. Even with that amount of coverage it didn't get that dark. As the eclipse starts and the sun is slowly getting covered your eyes are adjusting at a similar rate so it seems barely noticeable. Around 90% you'll start really noticing it. Very weird. The sun is shinning but it still is just dark. It's a hard thing for the brain to comprehend. Everything happens so fast at totality. Because I am a weather weenie I really watched the whole sky too, not just the disk of the sun. Back in 1998 Todd Gross was the on air met. on Ch 7 with Harv. I knew him somewhat. I use to go down to Ch 7 and visit him and Harvey. Todd was the one who first introduced me to the web. He and his family ended up staying at the same beach hotel as us. Todd wanted to get every extra second out of the eclipse so he like many other people traveled down to the south part of the island to get closer to centerline. We opted to just stay at our hotel and the beach. It was an early afternoon eclipse. Cu started forming on the south side and everyone down there raced back up. Todd got back about 5 minutes before totality. I remember he was a wreck trying to get his cameras setup. Yelling at his wife and kids. So funny. I actually brought my big VHS webcam down. Have it all on tape. Now without a VHS player I can't go back and easily watch it Anyhow it was just epic! Catcha lata!
  12. wxeyeNH
    The eclipse I saw was Feb 26 1998. I planned it years in advance. An winter Aruba vacation and a midday eclipse. It was a 3 minute 45 second eclipse at centerline. I was north of that and I just checked. 3 minutes and 4 seconds at my location. https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle1951/SE1998Feb26Tgoogle.html Actually, I am like you. Watching the moon cover the sun was fantastic but the sky, the light the environment was so strange and eerie. Everything was changing so fast. Enjoy the photography but don't get too wrapped up that you don't enjoy watching with your eyes. It goes by fast! So many little things I remembered. One thing was was the birds at the resort. We were staying at a nice hotel on the beach. One with all these tropical bird cages. Big Parrots etc. Of course usually they bring in the birds at night or cover the cages to get them settled before hand. Of course the staff was not thinking of things like that. The birds just were screaming. They didn't know what was happening when it became dark so quick! I also remember the cruise ships parked out in the ocean. One minute its daylight, the next nightime. All the lights just came on. I don't know how the island had so many fireworks. It seemed like every house had them all go off at once during the eclipse. The cheering on the beach was amazing. Thousands and thousands of people on the beach. It was like watching a great ball game that the winning team just won. As the eclipse ended just thousand of people cheering, like the end of a great game or show. I would think once the national media picks up on this next month is will become a big deal. Cities like Nashville, Kansas City will come to a stop as the eclipse passes. People will not work that day or empty out of office buildings at totality. It is that good. Up here in New England we had a nice annular eclipse on May 10 1994. https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle1951/SE1994May10Agoogle.html My house in Central NH was close to centerline. About 90-95% coverage. It really was not that great. Didn't compare at all to the total. People think that if you are in the path of the partial and 99% of the sun is covered its not worth traveling to see 100% coverage. The sun is so bright that even if 1% of the sunlight that doesn't get covered kills everything. Some astronomer once said its like almost being dead and being dead! SO true. You need to be under the path of totality! I think the only thing that could match an eclipse is being close to a major tornado and watch it pass by. Perhaps go through an eyewall of a major hurricane. Ranks right up there!
  13. wxeyeNH
    Great your heading south for the solar eclipse next month. I know a fair amount about them. Always wanted to see a total solar so we headed to Aruba years ago to view one. Wow, mind blowing, awesome experience! For that eclipse the moon was a bit closer to earth so it was a longer total eclipse with a wider path. Thus a bit darker at center line. You want to be as close to the center line as possible. Of course I know you will be watching the weather to try to alter your path to stay away from any clouds. Afternoon eclipse down south so pop up storms always a possibility. One Cu at the wrong moment kills everything. Aruba is a small island. We were staying at the north end. The south end had about a 30 second longer eclipse so that morning everyone headed south. We stayed at our hotel on the north side. LOL, about 45 minutes before totality some Cu developed down south and there was a massive traffic jam as thousands of people tried to get back north where there was clear skies. Stay away from cities where you can't be mobile. The eclipse starts slowly. Not even noticeable till around 50% sun coverage. Need the cheapo eclipse glasses to view the sun until totality. Right around 98 or 99% coverage a great wall of shadow darkness raced in. An amazing sight to see it overtake the island. Within seconds as the last sunlight disappears the stars come out and it becomes night. Because this eclipse is not as long and the path of totality is narrower than the one I saw the sky will still be bright to the south and north so don't expect midnight darkness. More like late twilight. As the sun disappeared the outer atmosphere of it became visible. Amazing. We watched from the beach. It was a mid day eclipse. People were literally crying it was so beautiful. Landscape was eerie. All the island lights came on and everyone set off fireworks. As it ends the shadow raced down the island and everyone cheered. Here in New England for this eclipse sun coverage is only 65-70%. Barely noticeable. Will need eclipse glasses to view it. As luck has it there will be another solar eclipse in the US in only 7 more years. An even better one, length wise. Path is from Texas to NY state to N VT/NH. April 8 2024. Of course that time of year we can be socked in with clouds and precip, so who knows? August 21 2017 falls on a Monday. Eclipse time is mid afternoon. If the weather looks good in the day or two leading up to it, get into a car, call in sick and drive down to West NC or East Tennessee and view it. DEFINITELY worth it if the weather is good. Catcha lata Gene
  14. wxeyeNH
    1045pm/ Slight brightness to the north but no discernible Aurora rays. I just drove up to my hilltop where I have a view almost to the north horizon over the Southern Whites. Milky Way is blazing across the sky tonight. Few high clouds to the NW but no real Aurora visible. The sky to the north is slightly brighter that the rest of the sky but you had to let your eyes adjust to even notice that. Beautiful night with no moon. Really would have been perfect. Maybe another chance tomorrow night but more clouds/showers/storms?
  15. wxeyeNH
    K index back up to 6 at 530pm. Jeremy this is how to make a few thousand bucks. Hope the skies are clear and that we have good thunderstorms crossing north of us late evening. Can you imagine a picture looking north with the Aurora going strong and distant anvils with lots of lightning below? Actually need to do a time exposure but what an incredible picture that would make!! Wonder if there has ever been an Aurora picture with good T storms and lightning below! Fingers crossed this holds for 5 more hours.
  16. wxeyeNH
    I am useless with space weather but see the index is K6 right now. Why do these things always seem to happen during the day or when its cloudy? Maybe it will last another 12 hours till nightfall? How high does it have to go before it screws up with electronics and power grids? Is the K index a way too know. I guess I could Google all this stuff!
  17. wxeyeNH

    Hi Alex.  Looks like the first snow event for you Friday night or Saturday.  When do you expect the new camera to come?   I was just curious.  Hope you are up here to enjoy it.  Strong winds too!

    Gene

  18. wxeyeNH

    Hi Alex,  I thought I would respond in private since I don't want to muck up the whole NNE thread with just camera posts.  I think you will definitely see the same quality as the wide angle camera once you replace the first one if you decide to go the closer in view route.  I understand the security issue but if the camera does not store video  of what it sees then how would you be able to  even  go back and review the video if  you had a problem like a break in?  What I do love about my NEST wide angle is that you can set up motion zones.  If it detects motion it flags it.  If it detects a person figure it will even tell you it sees a person.  I have it set up so I get an email if it sees motion and it even sends me an image of what it sees moving.  Very cool.  I do have the 10 day record service.  I like that because like last night with a beautiful sunset I can go back and catch it or make a time lapse of cool things it sees.

    I'll be curious what your final decision is.  Love the cam view and watching Mount Washington.  Amazing how much of the time the summit is in the clouds.  Should be clear tomorrow with a nice coating of rime.  

    Gene

  19. wxeyeNH

    Hey Alex.  Just checked the cam today.  Looks like someone is getting married!  The foliage still looks pretty meh there.  Now that you are up how does it look compared to the cam picture?  Everyone is talking about how beautiful it is on the Kanc. and in the Whites but either the cam doesn't show the real colors or that early frost you got kind of zapped the trees and kept them muted.  

    Doesn't look like much shower activity with tomorrow nights cold front.  Just looked and any showers should hold off to early evening if they happen.  Hopefully with any luck it will not interfere with the wedding.  

    Gene 

  20. wxeyeNH

    Hey Alex.  Cam image is perfect today, well as far as the lighting part  goes.  From time to time the clouds lift enough on Mt Washington that it looks like the cone is whitened.  Looked at the observatory cam and the rocks are white with rime ice and looks like a bit of snow at the top.  

    Beautiful day up here but a strong NW wind that makes my 56F seem much colder.

    Perhaps interesting tropical weather coming up.  Computer models want to develop a system way out in the Mid Tropical Atlantic.  Should keep moving west all this upcoming week and then turn north.  Develops into a big hurricane.  Yesterday the models had it turning north into the Gulf.  Today turning north quicker, into Florida or up the East Coast or maybe even missing the US and curving out to sea.  8 days away so fantasy land time period.  Something for me as a weather nerd to watch!

  21. wxeyeNH

    Hi Alex

    Cam is great.  Still out of focus on left.  Seems like you might have it inside and the glass window pane is keeping that part a bit out of focus.  How much was the cam and was it easy to setup?  Now I want one!

    Gene

  22. wxeyeNH

    Thanks Ocean.  oh, thanks for the link the other day too, the one with cumulative rainfall.  

    I'm not a Met as you know, but just for fun ran the GFS out to 300 hours.  Can't believe how dry it is after this rainfall.  I guess that invest way out near Africa will be a fish storm.  Maybe the invest south of Fiona could develop and move towards the mainland?  I see the GFS has it approaching the SE or perhaps coming up the coast.   That's what we need, a tropical system but one that isn't too strong that causes damage.

    C ya

    Gene

  23. wxeyeNH
    I really don't know much about Aurora's but did a quick look on space weather and they have it listed as "high" as of 5pm. High+: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Forecast: Auroral activity will be high(+). Weather permitting, highly active auroral displays will be visible overhead from Inuvik, Yellowknife, Rankin and Igaluit to Vancouver, Helena, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Bay City, Toronto, Montpelier, and Charlottetown, and visible low on the horizon from Salem, Boise, Cheyenne, Lincoln, Indianapolis and Annapolis.
  24. wxeyeNH
    Ginx, I looked a couple of times but didn't see anything. Quite a few clouds to my north over the Whites. Looks like the main action was pretty close to the northern horizon in my neck of the woods. I have noticed that a time exposure, even a short one will make the lights look better than what the naked eye sees.
  25. wxeyeNH
    It 745pm. Just went to a hilltop to look north. Nothing that I could see. About half the sky was cloudy above and to about 45 degrees to the north and I could see stars but no AB.
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