Total Solar Eclipse, April 8, 2024

[eyewall]

I can tell you the worst traffic will occur right after totality ends. Nobody waits out the partial phases after unless they are a photographer or something like that. That was my experience in 2017. Getting there wasn't as bad.

[ice1972]

4 hours ago, eyewall said:

I can tell you the worst traffic will occur right after totality ends. Nobody waits out the partial phases after unless they are a photographer or something like that. That was my experience in 2017. Getting there wasn't as bad.

IDK....in 2017 I drove from Omaha to Columbia MO to a town park right on the center line........it was weird - I don't recall mass chaos getting to it nor do I remember the traffic being all that bad after......I had booked a hotel room in Des Moines and the only traffic after was maybe 45 minutes of slow (not stopped) traffic until I was far enough north of the center line things dispersed......though I was on a decently rural road heading due north to Iowa......maybe it will be different on 91 in VT......we will be in Dallas this time and I'm taking the whole family this time - want the kids to see

[ice1972]

4 hours ago, BrianW said:

I'll be just south of BTV for it at my friend's. 

Saw this posted on a Facebook page. Does this seem somewhat possible? Haha

This seems like hype to me - my experience in Missouri in 2017 was not this.......far from it......but who knows

And lol at cell service on 91 in VT........there already isn't any lol

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, ice1972 said:

This seems like hype to me - my experience in Missouri in 2017 was not this.......far from it......but who knows

And lol at cell service on 91 in VT........there already isn't any lol

It'll be a mess right after for sure, thousands of cars driving back home. Hopefully its a sunny day and they get the full effect.

[Saguaro]

I saw the 2017 one in Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho. It was spectacular with exception of being marred by forest fire haze. I'm planning on driving from Phoenix to southern Texas for this one, and getting an early start from San Angelo Monday morning. Hopefully the climatological sunshine % in that area comes to fruition.

[ice1972]

Also this one is twice as long as 2017 as the moon is way closer than back then…..the geometry of it is fascinating 

4+ minutes of totality rather than about 2 minutes plus or minus in 2017…..it will be great as long as the clouds stay away

[ice1972]

Ok 384 700 RH 0z GFS is awesome for Dallas on eclipse day….keep it up…..

[ice1972]

Hopefully the huge fukin ridge idea stays intact…..

[ice1972]

That honestly looks great for most of the path……except northern NE lol

[Brewbeer]

On 12/29/2023 at 9:58 AM, Brewbeer said:

this is my plan as of right now.  head up I-91 to White River Junction, and then based on traffic, decide to head to Burlington via I-89 or continue up I-91 to Newport.

Leaning towards Newport.  Feel like the trip back from Burlington on 89 will be super frustrating.

Newport put out some helpful info:  https://www.discovernewportvt.com/eclipse/

[DavisStraight]

Did you guys buy glasses yet?

[Hoth]

Tupper Lake, NY it is. Just hope we can pull off a clear day.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

54 minutes ago, Hoth said:

Tupper Lake, NY it is. Just hope we can pull off a clear day.

Are you heading up the night before? I’m looking for a spot for us but have not decided if we just travel the morning of and camp out somewhere random or travel the night before and go to an official viewing/party kinda thing. 
 

I’m not feeling the pattern being conducive for clear skies…as of now.

[shawnmov]

Heading up to Burlington VT as early as possible in the AM.  Expecting traffic to be a problem.

[ariof]

34 minutes ago, shawnmov said:

Heading up to Burlington VT as early as possible in the AM.  Expecting traffic to be a problem.

This is going to be a study in bottlenecks, and coming back will sort of be a ski weekend on steroids. I doubt traffic going up is going to be a huge issue: a lot of people will go early and it will be relatively spread out since people have the whole morning and much of the afternoon. I'll definitely leave some extra time, though, and be ready to find some back roads if necessary. Franconia Notch will be interesting since it will squeeze traffic down to a single lane. There's almost never enough traffic there to cause backups, because so much peels off further south, but this could be an exception, since totality starts further north.

Back roads may help since I don't think many non-frequent travelers up there will take them. Boston to Saint Albans via Kinsman Notch and Route 15 only adds about an hour of drive time but probably avoids the traffic. Assuming 93 isn't jammed up into Concord. I'd guess 91 will be in better shape than 93/89, although the interchange at 89 might get tricky. But the way up the dispersal of people onto different routes should help.

Now, for the way back. The optimal viewing location is somewhere you can view the eclipse and then get the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible. You want to be on the side of totality your eventual highway is on, and you want to be close to it. This is what we did in Southern Illinois in 2017. Get in the car and hit the road. The only issue there was that there kept being 2-lanes-to-1 construction which led to long bottlenecks. I could foresee that happening to Franconia Notch, and I'd probably take 91 around that. (If there is a bluebird day, my plans are to head up to the NEK, possibly via 89 and 91 instead of 93, and definitely avoiding the Notch on the way back. But if you can be an early vehicle through the Notch, that will meter traffic onto 93 south quite well, and you'll probably get to Concord before the masses come down 93 and 89. I think the optimal location to view it would be somewhere along I-91 north of St J, but in the southbound lanes. Eclipse passes, you're already on the road ready to go south. It's going to be as if every skier at every mountain on a Sunday afternoon got off the lift and into their car at the same time. I'd expect the roads to be, uh, busy.

I remember in 2017 watch the red on Google Maps across the country on either side of the eclipse. It's fun!

[Hoth]

1 hour ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Are you heading up the night before? I’m looking for a spot for us but have not decided if we just travel the morning of and camp out somewhere random or travel the night before and go to an official viewing/party kinda thing. 
 

I’m not feeling the pattern being conducive for clear skies…as of now.

Yeah, probably heading up that Sunday to dodge some traffic. My sister-in-law's folks offered me a bed at their place, and I can't turn that down.  And I agree on the pattern. Looks iffy for sure.

[ice1972]

4 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

Did you guys buy glasses yet?

I had glasses from 2017 but ordered more for the family so nobody would fight over them......I ordered them Friday and they came today......so you got time.....

I got them from https://www.3dglassesonline.com/

Probably paid too much but whatever........I still had the ones I bought 7 years ago and ordered 3 more for the family this time......can't wait....

 

[ice1972]

1 hour ago, ariof said:

This is going to be a study in bottlenecks, and coming back will sort of be a ski weekend on steroids. I doubt traffic going up is going to be a huge issue: a lot of people will go early and it will be relatively spread out since people have the whole morning and much of the afternoon. I'll definitely leave some extra time, though, and be ready to find some back roads if necessary. Franconia Notch will be interesting since it will squeeze traffic down to a single lane. There's almost never enough traffic there to cause backups, because so much peels off further south, but this could be an exception, since totality starts further north.

Back roads may help since I don't think many non-frequent travelers up there will take them. Boston to Saint Albans via Kinsman Notch and Route 15 only adds about an hour of drive time but probably avoids the traffic. Assuming 93 isn't jammed up into Concord. I'd guess 91 will be in better shape than 93/89, although the interchange at 89 might get tricky. But the way up the dispersal of people onto different routes should help.

Now, for the way back. The optimal viewing location is somewhere you can view the eclipse and then get the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible. You want to be on the side of totality your eventual highway is on, and you want to be close to it. This is what we did in Southern Illinois in 2017. Get in the car and hit the road. The only issue there was that there kept being 2-lanes-to-1 construction which led to long bottlenecks. I could foresee that happening to Franconia Notch, and I'd probably take 91 around that. (If there is a bluebird day, my plans are to head up to the NEK, possibly via 89 and 91 instead of 93, and definitely avoiding the Notch on the way back. But if you can be an early vehicle through the Notch, that will meter traffic onto 93 south quite well, and you'll probably get to Concord before the masses come down 93 and 89. I think the optimal location to view it would be somewhere along I-91 north of St J, but in the southbound lanes. Eclipse passes, you're already on the road ready to go south. It's going to be as if every skier at every mountain on a Sunday afternoon got off the lift and into their car at the same time. I'd expect the roads to be, uh, busy.

I remember in 2017 watch the red on Google Maps across the country on either side of the eclipse. It's fun!

IDK my experience in 2017 wasn't so bad......I made it to Columbia MO and when it was over I had to get to Des Moines IA which involved a pretty rural road due north that wasn't that backed up......maybe 30 minutes right after the eclipse was over (I waited for the whole thing to be over).......after that initial back up it was 75 the whole way to Des Moines......probably had the advantage of not being on a major interstate like 91 or 89

[ice1972]

This is 1pm CDT Monday 4/8 (2pm EDT) 336 hr 18z GFS 700 map for eclipse day......this still looks great for most of the path.......but we all know how 336 hour maps go......look at the weird clearing in northern NE.....lol

[ice1972]

I use the 700 RH map as a guide for where clouds may be......thats my rookie move but if there is another map I should look at let me know please

[PWMan]

We're planning to drive north from the Portland area Monday morning. My wife is convinced that we're going to end up stranded in apocalyptic gridlock, Walking Dead style. There's been a lot of hand-wringing about potential crowd impacts on northern Maine, similar to the Vermont Facebook post shared earlier. One of the go-to analogues has been the Phish concert in Limestone which brought in hordes of people who overwhelmed the local facilities. My take is that this will be different since it won't be a situation where everyone is converging on one focal point. I'm sure there will be some traffic and that destinations like Sugarloaf and Rangeley will have crowds, but my biggest worry is weather.

[DavisStraight]

11 hours ago, ice1972 said:

I had glasses from 2017 but ordered more for the family so nobody would fight over them......I ordered them Friday and they came today......so you got time.....

I got them from https://www.3dglassesonline.com/

Probably paid too much but whatever........I still had the ones I bought 7 years ago and ordered 3 more for the family this time......can't wait....

 

No price is too much to preserve your sight.

[tunafish]

34 minutes ago, PWMan said:

We're planning to drive north from the Portland area Monday morning. My wife is convinced that we're going to end up stranded in apocalyptic gridlock, Walking Dead style. There's been a lot of hand-wringing about potential crowd impacts on northern Maine, similar to the Vermont Facebook post shared earlier. One of the go-to analogues has been the Phish concert in Limestone which brought in hordes of people who overwhelmed the local facilities. My take is that this will be different since it won't be a situation where everyone is converging on one focal point. I'm sure there will be some traffic and that destinations like Sugarloaf and Rangeley will have crowds, but my biggest worry is weather.

My guess is the analog you're seeing referenced is not Limestone, rather Newport, VT.  The issue was that the destination (festival) closed due to heavy rain-induced mud leaving nowhere to put any cars.  With no destination for cars, they were left on the side of 91 (and adjacent roads), and tens of thousands walked 20+ miles to get in.  I went to Limestone, too, and found that while there was traffic, nothing was overwhelmed like it was in Newport.

 

Hopefully general populace travelers are wise enough to bring paper maps, food, water and blankets in case the bottlenecks after get real bad. 

[nrgjeff]

New England is my tertiary or 4th backup, blowing my frequent flier miles. Per my location I'd like to see it in the Midwest or Mid-South. Texas and Ohio are my secondary backups before the tertiary gnashing of teeth. 

For traffic, I like the sports or large concert comparison. No huge problem getting into position if one gets out early. In 2017 we went very early and waited out the partial phases. The build-up and anticipation is fun, like waiting on a storm to gin up. 

Traffic getting out will be tremendous. One could bolt right after totality ends. In 2017 we found that hard to do. Enormity of the experience required some time to reflect and process it. One could hang out some more, picnic or hike. Probably don't expect a table at a restaurant until you get to a city outside totality. We ate in Chattanooga.

We still have eclipse glasses, but it says they expired. Either way I will use an eclipse shadow box more. Image is so flat in the glasses, really no different than a shadow box. Ended up using mostly the shadow box in 2017 for partial phases. Minute before totality maybe the glasses add value, so you know exactly when it's safe to look.

Eclipse partner thought I was crazy to use binoculars during totality. Absolutely be extra sure it's not coming out of totality - only do it with 1-2 minutes to spare. Anyway I saw the orange/pink prominences with binoculars. Wider corona is far better naked eye. Really for the whole thing, naked eye is superior. Just took a quick peek at the prominences. 

In 2017 we were in a solar cycle min. Corona was delicate and seemed to stretch across the sky. Two long streamers were on one side and one long streamer was on the other. The moon was blacker than I'd imagined, but intellectually it makes total sense. Actually everything was even better than the hype.

In 2024 we are near a solar peak. I've read the corona will be bolder but maybe more concentrated. Sky may be darker since it's a longer totality. Could be a great vivid contrast. Guess we'll find out if a stronger / bolder corona is pretty. I know I loved the delicate version in 2017. This 2024 will be my second total solar eclipse. Either way it'll be so incredible!

Don't forget to soak in everything. Last minute or two is wild when the sky gets darker incoming. Also shadow bands could start 5 minutes early if I recall, maybe just a couple min. White surface looks like the bottom of a swimming pool. I think the cicadas were going several minutes before totality. Deep partial phases are pretty cool too.

I think of deep partial and total like structure and tornado to the storm chaser. Of course both are great, but there's only one mission on April 8. Chase the clear skies and it must be Totality. 

[dendrite]

This will verify. lol

[Professional Lurker]

I had glasses from 2017 but ordered more for the family so nobody would fight over them......I ordered them Friday and they came today......so you got time.....
I got them from https://www.3dglassesonline.com/
Probably paid too much but whatever........I still had the ones I bought 7 years ago and ordered 3 more for the family this time......can't wait....
 

Test out your glasses ahead of time, l hear there's a lot of fakes being sold. No sense in blinding your family.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[PWMan]

What are folks' thoughts on whether it makes sense to commit to a 6+ hour round-trip drive if it looks like it's going to be cloudy? I'm willing to take my chances on a partly cloudy day, but if we're buried under an ULL with no hope of sunshine I'm wondering if it's worth the effort. Has anyone here experienced totality under overcast skies?

[HIPPYVALLEY]

On 3/22/2024 at 7:37 PM, ice1972 said:

This seems like hype to me - my experience in Missouri in 2017 was not this.......far from it......but who knows

And lol at cell service on 91 in VT........there already isn't any lol

Well, a few years ago a 60,000 fan Phish Festival in VT caused major traffic headaches.

I can’t imagine if quarter of a million people pour into the state.

[HIPPYVALLEY]

1 hour ago, PWMan said:

What are folks' thoughts on whether it makes sense to commit to a 6+ hour round-trip drive if it looks like it's going to be cloudy? I'm willing to take my chances on a partly cloudy day, but if we're buried under an ULL with no hope of sunshine I'm wondering if it's worth the effort. Has anyone here experienced totality under overcast skies?

I would imagine it must get dark as night during totality if there’s cloud cover.

[wxeyeNH]

17 hours ago, ariof said:

This is going to be a study in bottlenecks, and coming back will sort of be a ski weekend on steroids. I doubt traffic going up is going to be a huge issue: a lot of people will go early and it will be relatively spread out since people have the whole morning and much of the afternoon. I'll definitely leave some extra time, though, and be ready to find some back roads if necessary. Franconia Notch will be interesting since it will squeeze traffic down to a single lane. There's almost never enough traffic there to cause backups, because so much peels off further south, but this could be an exception, since totality starts further north.

Back roads may help since I don't think many non-frequent travelers up there will take them. Boston to Saint Albans via Kinsman Notch and Route 15 only adds about an hour of drive time but probably avoids the traffic. Assuming 93 isn't jammed up into Concord. I'd guess 91 will be in better shape than 93/89, although the interchange at 89 might get tricky. But the way up the dispersal of people onto different routes should help.

Now, for the way back. The optimal viewing location is somewhere you can view the eclipse and then get the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible. You want to be on the side of totality your eventual highway is on, and you want to be close to it. This is what we did in Southern Illinois in 2017. Get in the car and hit the road. The only issue there was that there kept being 2-lanes-to-1 construction which led to long bottlenecks. I could foresee that happening to Franconia Notch, and I'd probably take 91 around that. (If there is a bluebird day, my plans are to head up to the NEK, possibly via 89 and 91 instead of 93, and definitely avoiding the Notch on the way back. But if you can be an early vehicle through the Notch, that will meter traffic onto 93 south quite well, and you'll probably get to Concord before the masses come down 93 and 89. I think the optimal location to view it would be somewhere along I-91 north of St J, but in the southbound lanes. Eclipse passes, you're already on the road ready to go south. It's going to be as if every skier at every mountain on a Sunday afternoon got off the lift and into their car at the same time. I'd expect the roads to be, uh, busy.

I remember in 2017 watch the red on Google Maps across the country on either side of the eclipse. It's fun!

I live in the Plymouth area of Central NH.  Route 25 west and up along the Conn River on the NH side is another option.  Cross one of the bridges into Vermont and take side roads at least up to St Johnsbury.  Also the NW are just west and north of Littleton NH gets briefly into totality. There are quite a few country roads if you have Google Maps etc. although cell service is very spotty in that area of NH.. It will not get very dark but Bailey's beads, Diamond Ring will last longer and you might be able to avoid lots of traffic.  It all depends on the weather.  If there is a high probablility of good weather a couple of days in advance, the more people will decide to head north.  If it is iffy or of course a poor forecast with a large synoptic storm about to hit.... then just sleep in.