wxsniss Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 12 minutes ago, weathafella said: My biggest worry is finding parking wherever we end up. If you remember Gallatin in 2017, outside of the immediate area of the park traffic was a breeze on the highways. Am I being totally ridiculous thinking at absolute worst you could just pull over on I-91 (or whatever road you're on)? My thinking is just get to the destination in time (and I'm increasingly nervous of that leaving Boston 8am) and the rest is gravy... I too remember the drive back to airport from Gallatin was surprisingly OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weathafella Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 FWIW, 18z 3k NAM looks pretty good for northern VT including BTV and Newport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weathafella Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 4 minutes ago, wxsniss said: Am I being totally ridiculous thinking at absolute worst you could just pull over on I-91 (or whatever road you're on)? My thinking is just get to the destination in time (and I'm increasingly nervous of that leaving Boston 8am) and the rest is gravy... I too remember the drive back to airport from Gallatin was surprisingly OK. The thing about pulling over is you pretty much have to get out of your car. I think if you can reach a rest area or any exit 30 minutes ahead of totality it can work. Pulling over on 91 is a bit dicey especially with idiots who don’t pull over and look at and take pictures of the eclipse while driving 80 mph. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxsniss Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 2 minutes ago, weathafella said: The thing about pulling over is you pretty much have to get out of your car. I think if you can reach a rest area or any exit 30 minutes ahead of totality it can work. Pulling over on 91 is a bit dicey especially with idiots who don’t pull over and look at and take pictures of the eclipse while driving 80 mph. Yeah the at-worst plan is pull over on I-91 breakdown lane, sit on grass. I'm nervous even that option won't be possible if the breakdown lane is already a parking lot. But hopefully 7 hours drive from Boston is enough to reach Newport and stage someplace more reasonable. So happy you're doing New England instead of Eagle Pass! Unbelievable that NNE will be the best viewing in the country. A month ago I was bracing myself for a washout. 18z NAM as you wrote above looks great... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ineedsnow Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Just now, wxsniss said: Yeah the at-worst plan is pull over on I-91 breakdown lane, sit on grass. I'm nervous even that option won't be possible if the breakdown lane is already a parking lot. But hopefully 7 hours drive from Boston is enough to reach Newport and stage someplace more reasonable. So happy you're doing New England instead of Eagle Pass! Unbelievable that NNE will be the best viewing in the country. A month ago I was bracing myself for a washout. 18z NAM as you wrote above looks great... leaving at 4am Monday to go to Baldwin mills Quebec to my grandfathers place.. I really should leave tomorrow but not sure yet.. I have to be up at 3am for work Tuesday and thinking the border might be jammed Monday night ugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weathafella Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 7 minutes ago, wxsniss said: Yeah the at-worst plan is pull over on I-91 breakdown lane, sit on grass. I'm nervous even that option won't be possible if the breakdown lane is already a parking lot. But hopefully 7 hours drive from Boston is enough to reach Newport and stage someplace more reasonable. So happy you're doing New England instead of Eagle Pass! Unbelievable that NNE will be the best viewing in the country. A month ago I was bracing myself for a washout. 18z NAM as you wrote above looks great... Eagle Pass is a shit show with the border issues so that part was easy. But yeah this seems way easier logistically and obviously less costly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 2 hours ago, RU848789 said: We're heading to a B&B in Plymouth early tomorrow and then had always figured it would be a Monday morning decision on where to go from there. The past few days we were also thinking Newport, NH, as it looked clearer than further west, like Burlington and is still pretty close to totality, but we're also not happy with the cloud trends and have been thinking of Pittsburg, NH, which is about 15 miles NE of Colebrook. Another possibility is heading another 15 miles all the way up Rt. 3 to the border at Connecticut Lake State Forest, as it's a bit closer to totality, but I have zero idea how that road would be and if there's somewhere good to watch near there - no obvious towns and the one campground (Deer Mountain Campground about 4 miles from the border) says it's temporarily closed, but I think that's just because their camping season doesn't start until May. My guess is one could just pull over and trudge through the snow to what looks like a nice clearing (we have nice chairs, lol) or maybe the US Customs folks won't mind people parking near there and watching. No idea and not even sure who to ask (NH Parks/Rec is closed, lol). And if the clouds really move further east, I guess we may have to go somewhere in Maine, but anywhere near totality, like Coburn Gore or Jackman will add a few hours to the trip, since there's no fast/easy way there - it's about 2:20 from Plymouth to Pittsburg, but it's 4:00 to Coburn Gore and 4:50 to Jackman and that's if traffic isn't bad. I imagine thousands of others are pondering these same questions. My wife's already not happy about a 2:20 drive from our B&B, so a 4+ hour drive won't go over much better, lol, but I might have to put my foot down on this one, as I really want a good shot at clear skies (I know there's no guarantee as 5 minutes of clouds in front of the sun at totality could happen on a 95% clear day). My town is adjacent to Plymouth NH so I know the local roads well. I think the traffic is going to be fair worse than most people are expecting. The problem going north from Plymouth is that there is only one way through Franconia Notch. One lane each direction. With hundreds of thousand people coming I don't see how Rt93 would handle that. Remember that there is very little cell service in N NH and few gas stations and restrooms. Take food with you and gas. The few restaurants up in totality will be unable to help this amount of people. Although it is probable that skies would be clear over Maine there is no easy way to get there from here. Not even on a good day. So my advice is from Plymouth go west on Rt25 up to Haverill. Then use one of the bridges to cross into Vermont. Monroe might be best. Then Rt 5 to St Johnsbury. Cirrus might be an issue but our limited road system will be so overwhelmed. Just impossible to tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 1 hour ago, mreaves said: Take 105 east to Canaan, VT if you think it’s going to be close. I would say cross the border and head towards Sherbrooke but I bet the crossing will be crazy busy. I have done the crossing into Sherbrooke many times. Usually a wait even on a regular day. I don't see how border patrol would be able to handle more than 50 cars per hour. I guess you can do a Uturn right before the border and if you time it right just pull over. All the traffic will stop at 3:25pm and with miles and miles of country land the police can't be everyplace to tell you to move on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Good post 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreaves Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 1 hour ago, wxsniss said: Am I being totally ridiculous thinking at absolute worst you could just pull over on I-91 (or whatever road you're on)? My thinking is just get to the destination in time (and I'm increasingly nervous of that leaving Boston 8am) and the rest is gravy... I too remember the drive back to airport from Gallatin was surprisingly OK. There is at least one parking area on 91 north. They used to get big crowds for the Bread and Puppet Theater. Not sure if the state will have the gate open. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreaves Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 32 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said: I have done the crossing into Sherbrooke many times. Usually a wait even on a regular day. I don't see how border patrol would be able to handle more than 50 cars per hour. I guess you can do a Uturn right before the border and if you time it right just pull over. All the traffic will stop at 3:25pm and with miles and miles of country land the police can't be everyplace to tell you to move on Yeah we waited over an hour last Sunday at the Champlain, NY crossing. They never seem to have more than 2 lanes open at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nj2va Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 We had a rental in Niagara Falls Canada but just booked a place north of Jackson tomorrow through Tuesday. Trying to figure out which town to drive to Monday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcglups Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Heading to Colebrook which normally is 80 minutes but planning for 240 minutes travel time. They are planning for crowds and so many options, while awesome, come with lots of risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorEastermass128 Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 Thoughts on packing a shovel in case we need to shovel out a spot on the side of the road? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 The post eclipse horror stories will be epic. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weathafella Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 12 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said: The post eclipse horror stories will be epic. The thing to do is hit the road as soon as totality ends or wait hours and have a leisurely dinner and consider staying another night somewhere. Plenty of availability Monday night. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteLawns Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 I’m lugging myself and all my equipment to Altona NY. Staying in ALY tomorrow night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RU848789 Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 3 hours ago, weathafella said: By totality I think you meant center line? The difference is duration of totality so getting as close to the center line is key. I stayed near the Nashville airport in 2017 but spent the eclipse on the center line in Galitin. Either way, as long as its total where you are the show should be great. Yes, meant center line - I just want to be reasonably close to it so that we get totality for 3+ minutes and all of the locations you and I have mentioned are over 3 minutes of totality (vs. 3:33 of totality, roughly, along the center line) - Pittsburg is 3:13. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxWatcher007 Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 Heh, now I have to consider Maine. It may be a bit longer, but I may go to a place in eastern Maine off 95 just to avoid the backroads. The Katahdin scenic outlook is closed? Rangely seems good on paper but the road network doesn’t seem ideal to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radarman Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 West central Ohio where I'll be has been 50/50 with respect to clouds for like a week now, but I'm optimistic the traffic won't be too terrible at least Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 1 hour ago, Ginx snewx said: The post eclipse horror stories will be epic. You traveling for this? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RU848789 Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 2 hours ago, wxeyeNH said: My town is adjacent to Plymouth NH so I know the local roads well. I think the traffic is going to be fair worse than most people are expecting. The problem going north from Plymouth is that there is only one way through Franconia Notch. One lane each direction. With hundreds of thousand people coming I don't see how Rt93 would handle that. Remember that there is very little cell service in N NH and few gas stations and restrooms. Take food with you and gas. The few restaurants up in totality will be unable to help this amount of people. Although it is probable that skies would be clear over Maine there is no easy way to get there from here. Not even on a good day. So my advice is from Plymouth go west on Rt25 up to Haverill. Then use one of the bridges to cross into Vermont. Monroe might be best. Then Rt 5 to St Johnsbury. Cirrus might be an issue but our limited road system will be so overwhelmed. Just impossible to tell. Thanks for the intel. Actually, our B&B is in North Hebron but was saying Plymouth as it's the nearest "city." Had heard of this section of 93 being gorgeous, so was actually looking forward to going that way, which is why we were hoping leaving by 8 am would be early enough to avoid bad traffic. That gets us to the Notch around 8:30 am and to Pittsburg by 10:30 am if traffic is reasonable - we're prepared to just hang around for a few hours at our destination before the event (and after) and will have plenty of food and beverages and I even still have my old Rand McNally Road Atlas as backup, lol. We'll be up earlier checking traffic and if it is looking bad earlier than 8 am, we'll just leave earlier. And if it looked really bad at the Notch, we'd go around it on 25/116 back to 91/3 in Franconia (adds 25 min, but could be worth it). We also would probably rather go to Newport, VT, but have been worried about how close the clouds come to there - if it looks good on Monday am, we'd likely go there and can take 91 instead of 93. It also helps that we're retired so it's really not a big deal to us to go early to avoid traffic or to wait a few hours after the event to leave, since we don't have to be anywhere (we have the B&B Monday night too) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jebman Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 Congrats to Maine. You are perfectly positioned for this puppy. I am most certainly NOT. We'll be dealing with not one but TWO cloud decks Monday, hoping for breaks. Stay far from Texas, gonnabe cloudy and rainy. Plenty of low level moisture transport is in place with south winds to 37 mph. Wow I wish I had enough cash to go to Maine! I could dig snow and watch the eclipse. Enjoy the eclipse! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikC Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 3 hours ago, wxsniss said: Yeah the at-worst plan is pull over on I-91 breakdown lane, sit on grass. I'm nervous even that option won't be possible if the breakdown lane is already a parking lot. But hopefully 7 hours drive from Boston is enough to reach Newport and stage someplace more reasonable. So happy you're doing New England instead of Eagle Pass! Unbelievable that NNE will be the best viewing in the country. A month ago I was bracing myself for a washout. 18z NAM as you wrote above looks great... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikC Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 can't find this model on my weathermodels account; is it only available at higher levels or am i missing something 1 minute ago, RikC said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxsniss Posted April 7 Author Share Posted April 7 15 minutes ago, RikC said: can't find this model on my weathermodels account; is it only available at higher levels or am i missing something Model Maps > Model Animator > Parameter --> select Cloud Cover Only available on ECMWF and 3k NAM You can find Cloud Cover for GFS, GEFS, 12k NAM on Pivotalweather Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikC Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 14 minutes ago, wxsniss said: Model Maps > Model Animator > Parameter --> select Cloud Cover Only available on ECMWF and 3k NAM You can find Cloud Cover for GFS, GEFS, 12k NAM on Pivotalweather EXCELLENT!! thx for the weathermodels 101 class. good luck monday; i'll be staying overnight in central VT and maybe heading down I91 to lyndon and beyond depending on traffic then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 9 hours ago, powderfreak said: You traveling for this? Hell no 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 9 hours ago, RU848789 said: Thanks for the intel. Actually, our B&B is in North Hebron but was saying Plymouth as it's the nearest "city." Had heard of this section of 93 being gorgeous, so was actually looking forward to going that way, which is why we were hoping leaving by 8 am would be early enough to avoid bad traffic. That gets us to the Notch around 8:30 am and to Pittsburg by 10:30 am if traffic is reasonable - we're prepared to just hang around for a few hours at our destination before the event (and after) and will have plenty of food and beverages and I even still have my old Rand McNally Road Atlas as backup, lol. We'll be up earlier checking traffic and if it is looking bad earlier than 8 am, we'll just leave earlier. And if it looked really bad at the Notch, we'd go around it on 25/116 back to 91/3 in Franconia (adds 25 min, but could be worth it). We also would probably rather go to Newport, VT, but have been worried about how close the clouds come to there - if it looks good on Monday am, we'd likely go there and can take 91 instead of 93. It also helps that we're retired so it's really not a big deal to us to go early to avoid traffic or to wait a few hours after the event to leave, since we don't have to be anywhere (we have the B&B Monday night too) Get in the notch at Sunrise to avoid traffic but also sunrise is unreal there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 Really wanted to travel and see it, but my one option won’t be home. hoping to see something pretty awesome regardless down here. Hopefully I’m around in 2044 lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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