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wxeyeNH

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Posts posted by wxeyeNH

  1. 41 R+   I'm glad I paid to have our roof shoveled off.  9" of heavily weighted snow remains on the ground. Since our big snowfall the temperatures have remained in the 30s except 41F yesterday and 44F today.  I have no idea what is going to happen over the next week with all these systems and snow/rain.  

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  2. 51 minutes ago, nrgjeff said:

    I'd probably try @PWMan in almost any forecast scenario. In 2017 some KCMO friends thought they were hosed with mid-level clouds but they got a lucky break for several minutes at just the right time. 

    If there is any chance of a breaks in clouds I would take a chance on it. I suppose have some other activity to justify the drive. Again, one should still experience some effects under overcast and observe animals react. Even mostly cloudy could yield bits and pieces of the main show.

    The KCMO story was a morning MCS. Of course that day clouds lingered well after the storms departed, rather than quickly clearing. Friends gave it a shot despite lots of afternoon clouds. They got the break they needed. Sometimes things actually go right! 

    At this point it's too early to worry about the forecast though. Maybe consider some back-up locations. One can still get a motel off the path of totality in the Midwest no problem. Then drive on in that day, early of course. 

    From a Meteorological perspective what I remember from my Aruba eclipse is the wall of darkness coming down the beach.  I could see to the horizen and it was pretty pronounced racing towards us at 1000mph.  Most people just stare at the sun through totality but I really noticed how the strange light reflected of the scattered cumulous around and the rapidly changing sunrise to sunset effect in the distance all around us.  The only thing I remember about animals was that the hotel had lots of exoctic birds in cages.  Normally as dusk falls the staff would cover the cages up in the evening.  No one remembered to do that and the birds were going nuts trying to figure why got became night all at once.  If you can't make it to centerline it will not get that dark but at the edges of totality Bailey's beads and the Diamond Ring effect last longer.  As i keep harping, 99% partial and a 100% total is like the difference between kissing someone and marrying them. 

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  3. 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.  

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