Total Solar Eclipse
Bit of a different one. One of my big life regrets in life is not seeing the total solar eclipse in August 2017. In hindsight, I realistically could have made it to Santee, South Carolina as a reasonable day/overnight trip from the D.C. metro area. It’s entertaining thinking where else I could have been, and it’s been fun to hear from friends where they were when they saw it (map of trajectory).
It must’ve been a true spectacle to be on Mount Jefferson in Oregon, most of the southern Idaho ranges, and the Tetons or Winds in Wyoming. I think mathematically it’s going to be a looong time before the solar eclipse passes over that part of the American West again.
I can’t be too hard on myself, since I was only two weeks into a new job and really didn’t know anything about it at all until we were handed the solar eclipse glasses the day of. In Virginia, we had an 81% obscuration, so I still did take part in a bit of the experience as well as seeing the resultant pinhole effect. But finding out later what I missed, I had to see the real thing.
Taken through the solar eclipse glasses with my phone camera.
I was getting pretty anxious trying to plan this whole thing out, even with years of prep time, mostly because April is a statistically cloudy month in many parts of America. It was a matter of balancing cost, ease of travel along the eclipse trajectory, and long term weather projections. I originally intended to go to Texas since that seemed to have the best odds weather wise, but lodging and travel became exorbitantly expensive way more than I expected it to. Ultimately I just went home with the intention of going to Niagara Falls - a two for one kind of trip, since seeing Niagara Falls itself would be cool even without the eclipse.
But getting closer and closer to the event, the weather started to look pretty gloomy almost everywhere. I was really glad I didn’t commit to Texas because it looked the worst there despite historical trends. Niagara looked bad too, and northern New York/Maine, where everyone expected it to be the worst, was actually looking the clearest. Ohio was 50/50. I wish I kept some of these forecasts, because I would be looking at these a lot.
The main event ticking closer...
Ultimately we decided to go to Youngstown, OH - in between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. This would afford the most flexibility being able to drive along the eclipse trajectory depending on the weather.
And now the night before, central Ohio was looking pretty clear-ish following a close rainstorm, so it was game time. The original plan was to go to Norwalk, OH - exactly on the path and not a terrible drive there and back. It was so clear on the way there, but wispy cirrus clouds began moving in about 2-3 hours before the eclipse, so we kept driving further west.
If there is one thing I’m guilty of these days, is waffling hard on weather forecasts. I busted out every weather tool I knew of to maximize our odds, but at some point we were going to have to settle. I think going all the way out to Indiana would have been a big ask for my family, and in driving west we finally ended up in Forest, OH.
Our viewing spot and the cirrus clouds which it turned out would have no noticeable impact on the experience.
I wanted a place on public property, with good viewing angles, and a place we could set up from the start of the partial eclipse. In Forest, for better or for worse, there was also no service, so I was going to have to live with my decision, no sense in worrying further. This was probably a good thing to stop myself from checking the weather non-stop and running the what-ifs and just enjoying the whole thing.
Finally the thing happened and it was cooler than I expected and more. You can see the absence of light heading our direction from the west. Once the total eclipse started, it was like a light switched off. We took our glasses off immediately and soaked it in for all four minutes. I wish I knew about the Baily’s Beads so that I knew to look for them (and I’m sure I did in fact see them), but I could definitely remember seeing the red solar flares with my bare eyes. A total spectacle, the rim of the sun was white, and the sun was kind of big-looking. The temperature change was also remarkable.
No photo or video of the thing. I’ve been told that unless you are a photographer that it’s not worth it. And even then you should have everything preset - I certainly did not want to spend any of my four minutes futzing with anything else.
And as quickly as it happened, it was over. We got in our cars and prepared ourselves for the long, long way home. I think it was about a ten hour drive when it was all said and done.
And looking at the news afterwards, Niagara Falls did indeed get shut down by weather (though my friend said they saw the overcast day become even darker for those four minutes), and Texas was a hit or miss. For the latter, knowing my luck, I’m sure I would have spent all that money, time, and effort just to be in the path of a stray cloud during the main event.
For someone who is frequently disapointed by most things in life, this is one of the few events that absolutely lived up to the hype. I hope to see one more before I die. It probably was the first and last one for my parents if we’re being honest, so I’m glad I got this monkey off my back.
I know I know, solar eclipses are actually not uncommon globally, with annular + total solar eclipses happening roughly twice a year, with each comprising roughly a 50% chance. And I’m sure Egypt is going to be epic with a 6:20 minute total solar eclipse. And it looks like Australia is going to be treated with four in a span of ten years.
In all likelihood though, I’ll probably see the one coming back to the states in 2045. I’m already imagining where I should go since the trajectory leaves many options for interesting locations, but who knows what the world will look like by then, or who I’ll even be for that matter.