wxsniss

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.

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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/

Similar sensation to 2011… almost like an undulating floor as if a heavy bouncing truck was driving by 

And the fun and typical experience for these parts: going from “what the hell was that” to seeing all the breaking reports

Wow felt that! 10:28ish

55 minutes ago, ariof said:

I think most people are, rightly or wrongly, going to a destination, not the side of the road. I mean people have booked rooms in totality for $1000, so I assume they have destinations chosen. (This is, of course, the wrong way to do it; it doesn't really matter where you are since you are looking at the sun; mountains nearby would be fun to be able to see them in the light when you're in the shadow, being on top of a mountain might let you watch the shadow as long as there's not any FG which is not a given this time of year. I would assume Mansfield will be mobbed, even with the trail conditions up there, which might actually be "microspikes".) In 2017 we wound up at random pullout near a lake in Southern Illinois. We got there about 45 minutes before totality and there were people parked along the road but no real traffic.

If the storm hits far enough north and there's nowhere to pull off it won't help, but traffic will mostly all be going in the same direction at least so if people pull off there won't be too much trouble pulling into the other lane. Somewhere like Willoughby Gap might be fun to watch the shadow cross the mountains (there will be a split second when one side is in light and the other side in darkness), I guess? But the whole thing is, for the most part, the cool stuff is going on up in the sky, so there's really no need to be in a cool place to view it, the sky is the same.

I will say based on my experience in Gallatin TN 2017 (crowd of thousands in large sports fields), hearing the wave of shrieks sweep across a crowd of thousands does add to the experience. If you can get to an event and have the time for a slow exit, it can be very memorable.

But yeah if not committing to an event: I'm hoping to pull over southbound I-91 or at least stage minutes from the highway. Hoping that won't be policed for the 3.5 minutes of totality and 30 min before, as I imagine many many will be doing the same.

11 minutes ago, Professional Lurker said:

Back by 8pm Monday night? Fingers crossed for you. Not sure that can happen tbh.

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Yeah I'm nervous about that too, but YOLO rules very much apply lol

I figure adding 1.5 hours to normal drive time would make it. Obviously will also fill up on gas and stage southbound before eclipse.

I was in Gallatin TN north of Nashville for 2017, easily one of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen... traffic heading back to airport wasn't that bad actually.