eyewall

It is an experience I will never forget! I ended up not far from the centerline in Williamston, SC:

On 8/7/2017 at 0:14 PM, wxeyeNH said:

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...

I  am going to be near Lake Murray, SC for it but to say I am nervous about a Cu field or showers/storms would be an understatement. Ideally there would be a TC just far enough away to put the area in a subsidence zone surrounding it. I only wish I could go back out west where it is almost guaranteed to be dry along with a stunning landscape.

 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

 

28 minutes ago, dendrite said:

MW wasn't fogged in and they never reported AURBO.

Yeah it was a dud either way. Here is to hoping for better luck when I venture south for next month's solar eclipse.

9 hours ago, wxeyeNH said:

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?  

Yeah it was hard to tell any glow from light pollution but yeah if it  was there it wasn't worth the mosquito bites lol. 

Meteorologically I made the right call but it was a bust as expected. I only wish i caught the surprise g3 in May. Ahh well the wait begins for another shot.

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Yeah this is going to be a dud.  The current solar wind isn't even good for Santa. Bummer.

I am at the dam at the Waterbury reservoir. I know it will like my bust but we shall see

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Any thoughts here before it gets dark? 

On the off chance I can see something I will be charged and ready

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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.

Even if the storm were to hold it will be a big battle with the next system coming out of Ontario. 

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!

G2 in progress now with a south bz. Ugh we are missing it.

Damn it! screwed by a daytime hit

If the rest of this summer is any indication we will probably be screwed by clouds here but I have my fingers crossed. it will be a race against time tomorrow night with the next approaching system. 

There was a G3 last night. Nothing like waking up to find out you missed it. Aurora seen down to Mass.

21 hours ago, Juliancolton said:

Tomorrow night is worth watching with the rapid-fire CIR/CH/CME sequence. Hopefully the timing is right and the streams don't just destructively interfere with each other.

I am hoping this one produces as it actually looks like we have a shot at clear enough skies to see something. That and it will get warm so you won't have to freeze out there watching it. Finally the moon is reasonably favorable with moonrise at 1am or so. 

Not sure what is going on but there is no geomagnetic storm ongoing.

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The IMF angle needs to go south but it looks like it may be G3 now.

Same here. How do you get an alarm on your phone?

4 hours ago, Professional Lurker said:

Any chance of it clearing out up north? Socked in and there's great potential this evening!

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Clouded in here. I got the alarm on my phone but screwed by the clouds

I was out and didn't catch more than a faint glow, but apparently things picked up around 11pm after I went back home and clouds started coming in.

Nice! I hope we can get some clearing for this one.

Too many clouds here but apparently it did go pretty good during the early morning hours.