TellicoWx

Talked to my aunt a couple hours ago, she lives just west of Houston. Had heavy snow and lost power there.

I can loan you guys some of the cold air in exchange for some moisture. Hard watching moisture come up out of the  gulf and be right on the edge here along the mountains in east TN lol.

Yabucoa Harbor starting to enter the eye. Peak gust was 97.3 kts, with surge of 4.3' so far.

Gusts approaching 100 knots at Yabucoa Harbor

90 knot gust recorded on north side of Vieques Island. 

OEW starting to come ashore on St. Croix

Absolutely amazing here in Tellico Plains, SE TN. The 360 sunset with the lights from town and corona were breath taking.

Last estimate was over 1000 vehicles have lined the Cheohala Skyway at the TN/NC line

3 hours ago, yak said:

Using a cheap hotel in Johnson City, TN as base camp tonight and trying to convince my son to leave at 6 a.m. for the summit.  Kinda worried about traffic nightmares.  I was planning on going to Sweetwater, TN but they are apparently turning people away if they haven't prepaid for parking.  Lots of price-gouging going on for glasses, parking etc.. I plan on giving away my extra glasses just to screw a few folks trying to take advantage of people seeking a once in a lifetime experience.  Hope y'all enjoy the show!

I live in Tellico Plains just south of Sweetwater, it's a shame ppls greed that is on full display. I honestly hope no one park's in these spots. My neighbors have roped their yards off hoping to make a buck. My driveway is small, but there is no way with a clear conscious I could charge ppl to view this great event.

Alot of unhappy merchants and ppl in Tellico who thought they would get rich this weekend, comparing it to the Y2K hype. Traffic and visitors have been light for an August weekend. I honestly think the media did a poor job with this event, scaring alot of ppl with "traffic apocalypse" stories, and not focusing enough time to inform ppl of the difference about a partial and total. A lot of ppl today are still confused with the 99% is good enough mentality.

14 minutes ago, WxBlue said:

Which is why I took I-81 from NH. Traffic haven't been horrible in Pennsylvania yet, but there's lot more northerners heading down comparing to southerners traveling northward for a nice week in New England.

81 gets bad around Harrisonburg 

A friend in Richmond said traffic is already horrible, took them 4hrs to go 5 miles...looks like the "Great Migration" has begun lol

22 minutes ago, nrgjeff said:

Euro introduces some mid-level clouds into my Chattanooga location now, coming from the Southeast. Hope it is not the dreaded jog north around 72 hours. Seems to hold most of the northern stream high clouds in Kentucky though. Meteorology favors the intersection of the totality centerline and the Tennessee River. 

GFS has mid-high clouds all over the place, and seems out of touch with pattern recognition. Kentucky high clouds, hopefully thin for them, are associated with modest westerlies aloft. Kentucky high clouds might break off as wisps into Tennessee, per the usual behavior south of westerlies. Southeast Coast mid-high clouds are with an easterly mid-level wave. Southeast clouds should have a sharper cut-off on their northwest side than the GFS is painting; hopefully that cutoff is down in Georgia not Tenn. Current progs show the best clear skies right on the centerline and the Tennessee River. 

The said area will of course be a total zoo with crowds, and is a slight shift from my initial meteorological target which was north of the center. Personal plans are still south of the centerline unless clouds chase me north toward the zoo. Avoiding crossing the centerline could help avoid traffic.

Now the mesoscale presents a possible concern for the west side of the Great Tennessee Valley. NAM wants to pop TCu over the Plateau and roll it into the west side of the Valley. Might bust, hopefully, due to reduced solar insolation. While they plan to run the HRRR with an eclipse adjustment, the NAM is running on full sunshine. Anyway south winds at the surface would allow Plateau TCu under normal sun. Mid-level light westerlies are forecast which would push it east into the Valley. Again it might bust, hopefully.

Meanwhile on the east side of the Valley, surface winds will be ever so slightly downslope off the Apps. TCu may pop over the Apps and definitely over the Blue Ridge. However those mid-level light westerlies would push cloud debris east. Therefore, it is possible the east side of the Great Valley is favored especially with lower PWs. Any synoptic mid-high clouds from the Southeast would of course destroy that forecast. 

West side of Valley is farther from the synoptic clouds but closer to possible Plateau TCu. East side of Valley may not have Cu problems, but must watch the synoptic clouds. If the PW forecast backs off just a bit south of I-24 I would feel better about the west side of the Valley. I keep mentioning west side because it keeps both I-75 and the centerline out of my travel path.

Hoping to watch it from Dayton, Tenn. It is a personal preference. Tellico Plains, Etowah or Delano are east side of Valley backups. Apparently Tellico Plains is ready for a crowd. Right? If synoptic trouble comes from the south then we position farther north. Again meteorology looks best at the centerline and the Tennessee River. Watts Bar with a boat, baby!

Biggest question I heard from ppl in town today was, "Wheres the crowd". A lot of skeptics here, totals have been from a 1k to 10k, with everyone wanting an answer. Water I believe could be an issue, but I hope the planners have got that in control...past events doesn't have a good track record on that subject lol. Regardless of where people "see" the eclipse, I believe the skyway will be full this weekend. Thanks for your updates.

Microclimates will play a big role Monday...just got the post set in the field for the pws, close to centerline so it will update the temp, humidity, and winds during totality, should be interesting data.

That's one of the good things about Tellico Plains here in southeast TN...town is surrounded by ridges and downsloping tends to help as far as cloud cover. Models had cloud cover today but ended clear skies over town surrounded by clouds. Microclimates will play a big part here in the southeast

Lol...kinda like following models during winter....I'll take the 60hr Nam for the win 

I'm located in Tellico Plains, SE TN, on the center line. A lot of people here think this is being over hyped. Going to be interesting to see how it plays out. 

I live in Tellico and been watching the models closely, Typical summer pattern looks likely to me and on those days normally areas along Athens to Madisonville, along with the mountains form clouds quicker. As long as I've studied the micro climates here locally, I believe it's due to a ridge (Starrs Mt) that runs through these areas aiding in the formation of clouds from upsloping due to south/southwest winds. Tellico sits in a bowl so the downsloping tends to slow the formation. 

The park service has will close some areas to vehicle traffic, but allow foot traffic. Also, glasses can't be found anywhere in the county.

They are saying due to the high volume of traffic, that cars will get stuck due to not being able to turn around. The Astronomical Society is going to setup in town instead of up on the mountain.

I live in Tellico Plains and member of the fire dept...we have been having meetings with EMA and Forest Service. For anyone planning on going up the Skyway, the Forest Service as of right will close most of the areas mentioned (Buck Bald, Stratton Meadows, Wauchessi, so on) on Eclipse day, also no parking will be allowed anywhere up the mountain. My advice is stay away from that area.