wxsniss

On 4/8/2024 at 5:30 PM, NW_of_GYX said:

Well that was cool. Also saw some weird light wave effect happening on the snow in the field just before and after totality. Can’t post videos or else I’d share.




 

Just saw this... Funny at Prouty Beach in Newport, ~1-2 minutes before and after totality, a group of guys ran over to a snow pile yelling "snakes in the snow!". My wife for a moment thought they saw actual snakes.

As @nrgjeff posted, must have been shadow bands. Here's a good example from Tennessee 2017 for those who haven't seen:

4 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Life has its ups and downs... you win some and lose some.  However, the factors that lined up to make this possible were pretty incredible.

This has been the wettest year, winter, whatever on record for some spots in New England.  It has precipitated a lot, it's been murky, we are back into it for a few days right now up here.  Its cloudy and damp right now, changing to cloudy and wet high elevation snow and valley rain showers over the weekend.

It has been so wet.  For so long.  However for this rare cosmic event the universe gave us euphoric weather.  Even without the eclipse, that sunshine and warmth (even in snow covered areas) would've been a banner day.  Throw in totality during the peak awesomeness of the weather/afternoon.  Mind-blowing.

How did we get so lucky?  It could've been 35F with dense fog and/or thick stratus with ease.  The fact that it wasn't raining and instead was perfect weather during this unstoppable event, damn.

So many great perspectives in this thread, and this another understated aspect of how this all implausibly came together perfectly: How the hell did NNE get such flawless weather?

Literally the best in the nation. After such a wet winter.

Multiple reports of people abandoning their Texas flights and driving up from Virginia/Carolinas to VT/NH/ME, or wagons east from NY:

https://www.boston.com/community/tell-us/readers-cancelled-flights-to-texas-and-traveled-to-new-england-for-the-solar-eclipse/

I actually had trouble sleeping Saturday night giddy with what the Euro/GFS and then NAM/HRRR were locking in for cloud cover... the amazement that we might actually pull this off.

17 hours ago, Hoth said:

The sun strangely and feebly yellowed, flashed and disappeared and the black hole burst forth from its heart. This elicited general gasps, clapping, and appeals to a higher power from all in attendance, and the most awe-inspiring spectacle I've ever seen was under way. How to adequately describe it? A coal-black heart of darkness wreathed with feathers of light in a deep twilit heaven, planets tom-peeping amid thin gossamer ribbons of cirrus, a rich gold sunset along the eastern horizon where the river dumps into the lake. I was stunned into silence, while my host on the flip side seemed to be experiencing a prolonged and quite plangent orgasm of sorts, emitting sobs and a string of high-pitched "oh-my-gods" through the whole thing. 

17 hours ago, Hoth said:

My host's 90+ year old parents observed the eclipse with us as well and agreed it was the most sublime three minutes of their time on this earth.

This is a beautiful account! Thank you! I had to read this to others. 

I love seeing these spontaneous poetic impressions from so many posters independently and across-the-board expressing how extraordinary this experience was.

And hits the spot as we all try to cling to the magic while real life shoves its way back.

I wish I had space to upload a video I took of the scene before/during at Prouty Beach, which apparently was a makeshift forum GTG... the anticipation the 30 seconds before, and then the eruption of shrieks and oh-my-gods the instant we get to 100%... still gives me chills.

5 hours ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Is anybody making plans for August 2026 in Iceland?

I want to take my kid so I started looking into it last night. It can still be done reasonably but I’m sure prices are going to soar.

I imagine northern coast of Spain, where you might see the umbra shadow race over the ocean, would be pretty amazing... also close to sunset over the ocean which could be pretty wild.

Interestingly totality only lasts 1m50sec max.

Looks like path also goes over Ibiza, but not sure I'd have patience for that vibe while seeking natural beauty.

All again highlights just how special this NNE occurrence was.

8 minutes ago, Henry's Weather said:

I was almost certainly in the same exact traffic jam - we left Groveton NH at around 4:30 and arrived in Cambridge at 2 AM

Ditto... was in that same exact traffic jam as you and Weathafella on 112 "Lost River Road" to get onto 93

North Woodstock NH 10:30pm... you Jerry and I'm sure others were in this:

Backed out of our parking spot in Newport 4pm

Finally exited Newport 5:30pm

Arrived in Boston 2am, (non-stop... empty bottles in car)

I don't remember hearing a single honk the entire drive.

As Powderfreak and others said, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

I think compounding things was that Google / Apple Maps really struggled to update anything and gave some ridiculous suggestions even with cell phone service (I had downloaded offline maps before trip).

Some media attention to this:

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2024/04/10/eclipse-traffic-new-hampshire/

29 minutes ago, NorEastermass128 said:

Anyone else feel like they’re in a post KU hangover?  Back to work tomorrow too…

With maybe a hint of solar retinopathy (some bilateral eye pain)... transiently felt the same after 2017... apparently I'm not alone, Google trends for "solar retinopathy":

Another Sugarloaf photo from a co-worker:

@AstronomyEnjoyer, enlighten us on the planets we saw yesterday, one visible in this photo (?Venus): 

Just now, weathafella said:

We may have been feet from each other!   I took few pictures since I felt all the stress of that in 2017 was a distraction.  Besides, my wife took videos and she laments the distraction…lol.  But she also acknowledges that unless you’ve seen totality you haven’t had the eclipse experience.  She downplayed everything and just went along and now realizes it’s an incredible and rare experience.  You did better getting out of Newport!  It took us longer.

How funny! We are 2 for 2 for impeccable total solar eclipse locations.

I actually somewhat regret not taking 10 seconds for a photo of the eclipse with my wife and I and setting in the background... it's fading like a dream now, so I wish I had a visual reminder.

Yeah the exit from Newport was something. The parking lots were full when we arrived so we parked in some private house that opened up their driveway to cars ~ 1 mile away and were so generously guiding people (imagine that in Boston, they'd charge $50 a spot). So we had the walk back, then slow crawl drive to center of town, stopped at the "City Cinema" for bathrooms, and next stop Boston 2am. Extreme, but absolutely worth it.

2 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

We've been talking about it a lot today (obviously) but for me it was this cool vibe that nothing else in the world seemed to matter yesterday.  Politics, money, worries, how much you hate your neighbor, etc... the entire lead up throughout the day was this universal knowledge that something wild was about to happen and the anticipation of it.

Then when it happened, to have every single person and humanity as a larger collective just get their mind-blown, led to this feeling of togetherness that we don't often get these days.  Everyone is so divided on every topic but this was one thing that humanity agreed upon for a day.

I said it yesterday and I'll say it again, I really did not understand the profound awesomeness of it.

Great post, and exactly captures the vibe.

People who haven't seen totality think "profound", "stunning", "otherworldy" adjectives are melodramatic... they are not.

Aside from a sight so alien to anything we know, and on a scale that reminds us how small we really are, the vibe was magic. Strangers were enthusiastically nice to each other. The camaraderie of witnessing something amazing that makes all our divisions seem so stupid.

I fully appreciate why some people are brought to tears, and why people chase these experiences that you may only get with optimal conditions once or twice in your life. 

It's like pressing a "reset" button to momentarily wipe all our man-made bs.

2 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

A few articles out there which discussed how this brought a divided country together....

Some comparisons to 2017 observed in Gallatin Tennessee:

- seemed larger to me, not sure if the moon was closer to us this time

- much more noticeable temp drop in 10 minutes before, I'm estimating 62F to 50F with noticeable breeze

- red solar prominence at 7 o'clock, so cool that everyone saw that

- "shadow snakes" on snow piles, only happened minutes before and after totality

For better or worse, did not even try to photo the eclipse... wanted no distractions from taking it all in during totality so only a set-it-and-forget-it video.

That's me pointing up in the center:

Photo from my brother who flew to Cleveland:

How cool, it seems a bunch of us here were at Newport, Prouty Beach!

5.5 hrs driving up (7:30a-1p), non-stop

8.5 hrs driving back non-stop (and not including ~1 hours just to get out of Newport)... I-91 was 5-10mph for 100+ miles, we did some backroads to I-93 and they were intermittently bumper to bumper as well... pretty remarkable at 12:30am Monday night to see stopped traffic on I-93

And I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

Such a stunning celestial feat + pristine weather + in our own backyard... not again in our lifetime.

Great luck everyone!

Heading out from Boston soon, target Newport.

9z HRRR looks great:

1 hour ago, weathafella said:

Based on everything still thinking Newport with the idea of cutting over towards Colebrook if clouds interfere.  Honestly I’m not at all worried about a few wisps of cirrus.  Mesos look good so far.

Same exact plan

Agree I think cloud cover will be a thin veil at most + we'll be far enough east that Newport vs. Colebrook should work. Defaulting to Newport given the extra seconds of totality.

I'm so nervous just about getting there leaving Boston at 8am.

Still can't believe New England may have one of the the best patches of viewing on the planet...

I'll PM you my cell #

5 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

Ha. It’s a logistics nightmare with kids and work etc.  

Totally sympathize... at one point, I naively planned to bring my 1 and 4 yo... then wisened up not to squander a once-in-a-lifetime 3 minutes to a "daddy my glasses keep falling off" tantrum lol

Thankfully the grandparents will babysit

2 minutes ago, dendrite said:

I like how GYX factored the reduced insolation into their temp forecast for 3pm tomorrow.

BTV did the same, pretty cool...

For Monday, trends in guidance continue to be for a slightly faster
arrival of high clouds which will likely provide a filtered view of
the eclipse for the North Country and Champlain Valley, while east
of the Greens should remain more clear through 4 PM before the
clouds move in. 925mb temps of +6-8C and steep low level lapse rates
would normally support highs in the low/mid 60s but with totality
occurring right around normal peak heating backed off on high temps
a few degrees for 55-60. We`ll additionally see a brief drop in
temps of 4-6 degrees during totality as well, which will be cool to
observe. Mid/high clouds stick around Monday night with no
precipitation expected and low temps milder ranging through the 30s.

And thanks for pinning this thread!

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

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...

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.

4 hours ago, weathafella said:

Our plan is to head to Newport, VT-hopefully far enough ne of the approaching high clouds.  But high cirrus shouldn’t really be that much of a damper so keep that in mind.  Euro cloud algorithm is all high clouds.

I linked a watch event at Newport, VT earlier in the thread... my plan is to leave Boston 8am, 93 to 91 to Newport. At the very least will stage on southbound 91 and just pull over on the interstate.

A bit nervous what cloud cover over pretty much the rest of the nation's path will do to crowd surge and driving on Monday, but I'm hoping 4 hours extra buffer will be enough for an ordinarily 3.5 hour drive.

12z Euro... note this is for 18z (2pm) and 21z (5pm)... ie. northeast VT, northern NH, all ME should be excellent:

6 minutes ago, CTSkywarn said:

Ok..... consensus......should I switch my hotel reservations in Rochester, NY and switch to Cornwall, Ontario? I have until midnight to cancel Rochester.....so the clock is ticking. Will the cloud cover be a lot less in Cornwall? I have to drive to Niagara Falls the next day.....so don't want to go any further east than that.

Sent from my moto g 5G (2022) using Tapatalk
 

19z NBM (blue/grey is cloud cover, white is clear with % cover shown):

Further northeast seems better at this point... Euro has the cloud cover a bit further northeast than the NBM and GFS/GEFS as wxeyeNH posted above. So if it's a no-cost decision between the 2 destinations, I'd go further northeast. But see what others here say... 

GFS/GEFS holding steady for VT/NH/ME

BTV:

As of 415 PM EDT Friday...Surface and upper level ridges remain
over the region for Monday, leading to pretty ideal viewing
conditions for the eclipse Monday afternoon. Some high clouds
will approach from the southwest, but at most some high clouds
around. Maximum temperatures will range through the 50s.

2 hours ago, CT Rain said:

You haven't been in totality then. 

It's like getting 99% instead of 100% of the numbers right on a lottery ticket. Those who haven't witnessed totality might extrapolate incrementally, but it's infinitely different. It's like the minute before or after, cool but no big deal.

2017 eclipse was easily one of the most amazing and freaky things I've ever seen. Not at all about money or hype... quite the contrary. You could be as in awe just standing in an open field, for free. Aside from the otherworldly sight, it's rare we get to witness with our own eyes just how small we really are.

"A partial eclipse is like a cool sunset. A total eclipse is like someone broke the sky."

Hat tip: https://xkcd.com/2914/