weathafella

3 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.

Spain.  I think Iceland has a much higher cloud possibility.

54 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Great stories.  I am pretty amazed more people didn't take a vacation day Mon and stay up there until the traffic died. I would absolutely die in 11 hr traffic. 

Yeah it would have been an obvious solution but so many of us planned NNE for the eclipse on relatively short notice.  I checked a week out and there was stuff available but in southern NH and not closer.  To complicate things the well meaning small towns had no experience or enough people to manage the flow out of town-added 2 hours to our trip.  Finally, NH DOT didn’t seem to give a shit.  Hindsight is always better I guess.  When we drove around the barrier vehicle's on exit 38 we encountered another problem-one 24 hour gas station (thankfully we didn’t need gas then) fully automated with no way to get into the bathrooms.   I went behind it and peed in an absolute emergency.  No place for my wife .  We ended up pulling off 93 after we got back on after the lane closures and stopped traffic and the place was mobbed-at 2:15AM.   What I noticed at the place was how nice everyone there was to each other.  Maybe there’s hope for the future….

We ended up driving around the car blocking exit 38 and took the alternate route anyway.   We weren’t alone either.  When 112 hit 93 we had clear sailing all the way home   We were in that cluster described above on 93 South for 3 hours and arrived home at 4AM.  Exit 39 was legit blocked.  Exit 38 seemed an ad hoc decision and we took the chance and at least got home before dawn.

50 minutes ago, wxsniss said:

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:

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.

Incredible day!   Newport was perfect for the show.  Unobstructed view including just spectacular beads as the sun re-emerged.  I echo Ryan’s observation-this one was better than 2017 in my view.

It took 90 minutes to get out of Newport-then 9.5 hours thanks in part to something crazy on 93 S near Franconia.   Still worth the sacrifice.  I can’t imagine I’ll be here for 2044 but there’s one in Spain 2026 and Australia 2028 I’ve got my eye on.

Looks like we’re going to be fine in Newport 

My friend is in Evansville IND and reports wispy clouds not obscuring the sun.

93 looks fine in both directions a few miles north of the 89 split at least from my window here.  Heading up 93 to 91 per Waze with 2 hours and 20 minutes.  Plenty of time-should be hitting the road in an hour.  Skies should not obscure the show!

1 minute ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

You'll be fine, it's the drive back that will be a little more crowded. 

I don’t think it will be as bad as people think.  At least that was my experience in 2017 and today’s drive up had normal flow-late afternoon.

4 hours ago, apm said:

Doing the same as you, Jerry. (But leaving Cambridge at 5:30) Can you text me? I couldn't message you for some reason.

I just cleared out a ton of messages going back 11 years.  Try now.  I don’t have your phone number.  We’re at the 89/93 split for the night and leaving around 9am.  Even triple the normal time gets us to Newport in the nick of time.

12 minutes ago, wxsniss said:

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 #

I think we have each other’s?  I’ll text to test.

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.

12 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

The post eclipse horror stories will be epic.

The thing to do is hit the road as soon as totality ends or wait hours and have a leisurely dinner and consider staying another night somewhere.  Plenty of availability Monday night.

7 minutes ago, wxsniss said:

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...

 

 

Eagle Pass is a shit show with the border issues so that part was easy.  But yeah this seems way easier logistically and obviously less costly.  

4 minutes ago, wxsniss said:

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.

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.

FWIW, 18z 3k NAM looks pretty good for northern VT including BTV and Newport.

23 minutes ago, wxsniss said:

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.

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.

43 minutes ago, RU848789 said:

We're heading to a B&B in Plymouth early tomorrow and then had always figured it would be a Monday morning decision on where to go from there.  The past few days we were also thinking Newport, NH, as it looked clearer than further west, like Burlington and is still pretty close to totality, but we're also not happy with the cloud trends and have been thinking of Pittsburg, NH, which is about 15 miles NE of Colebrook. 

Another possibility is heading another 15 miles all the way up Rt. 3 to the border at Connecticut Lake State Forest, as it's a bit closer to totality, but I have zero idea how that road would be and if there's somewhere good to watch near there - no obvious towns and the one campground (Deer Mountain Campground about 4 miles from the border) says it's temporarily closed, but I think that's just because their camping season doesn't start until May.  My guess is one could just pull over and trudge through the snow to what looks like a nice clearing (we have nice chairs, lol) or maybe the US Customs folks won't mind people parking near there and watching. No idea and not even sure who to ask (NH Parks/Rec is closed, lol).  

And if the clouds really move further east, I guess we may have to go somewhere in Maine, but anywhere near totality, like Coburn Gore or Jackman will add a few hours to the trip, since there's no fast/easy way there - it's about 2:20 from Plymouth to Pittsburg, but it's 4:00 to Coburn Gore and 4:50 to Jackman and that's if traffic isn't bad.  I imagine thousands of others are pondering these same questions.  My wife's already not happy about a 2:20 drive from our B&B, so a 4+ hour drive won't go over much better, lol, but I might have to put my foot down on this one, as I really want a good shot at clear skies (I know there's no guarantee as 5 minutes of clouds in front of the sun at totality could happen on a 95% clear day).  

By totality I think you meant center line?  The difference is duration of totality so getting as close to the center line is key.  I stayed near the Nashville airport in 2017 but spent the eclipse on the center line in Galitin.  Either way, as long as its total where you are the show should be great.

19 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

I think the cirrus will block out the corona and you will not be able to see any planets but all and all it should be good. I have been watching the Euro and GFS every run.  Weatherbell has tools that even break down cloud cover by type.  The good thing is that on the 12Z runs the cirrus are slightly slower to move in. 

On thing is that I can tell you because I am very active in our Newfound FB group is that so many people are planning to head north.  So really plan on that.  The other thing that strikes me is how many people are planning to go up to Lincoln.  With a solar eclipse either it is totality or bust.  Good luck Jerry.  Take some pictures!

So true.  After experiencing totality in 2017 there’s no going back.  We’ll see how it plays out but we’re also considering further east like Colebrook.   Game day decision.

I’m glad we’re spending Sunday night in CON.  Colebrook, NH is about the same distance in travel time as BTV.  Monday AM decision.

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.

Latest NAM looks great for VT where we’re going unless we have to divert which seems less likely.   We’ll be in CON overnight Sunday and follow the sun Monday.  2017 in Gallitin,TN was stupendous.   Who’d have thought the northeast would have the best chances but goes to show that you never really know.

On 4/1/2024 at 10:47 PM, wxsniss said:

Good bet given guidance at this range Jerry... northeast looks like it actually has a chance sitting east of ridge. I'll be driving somewhere with my wife.

Any thoughts from anyone on this plan? I'm thinking Newport, VT... 3.5 hr drive during weekday rush hour, so we'll plan on a 6 hour drive up: Drive up 93N, onto 91N at St. Johnsbury. Stay on 91 and get car to southbound direction before eclipse and that way can immediately hit road after. At worst might even just pull over side of 91 southbound...

There is an actual organized event, but I imagine it'll be impossible to enter:

https://www.discovernewportvt.com/eclipse/

 

 

We honed it to northern VT for now.   Booked a place in CON Sunday night easing the drive Monday.  I’m thinking somewhere in the BTV to St Albans region.   Ironically NNE stands to be the sunniest place for this one.

Sleeting moderately here.

I was originally planning to go to TX but I decided to bank on a drive knowing I can make a last minute rebook if conditions dictate.  We are planning somewhere in the ROC-ERI corridor.  New eclipse glasses arrived today.