OT: Stop or You'll Go Blind! (Solar Eclipse Planning Thread)
First things first: be safe everyone---please don't end up going blind for lack of proper eye protection. DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE ECLIPSE UNLESS YOU ARE WEARING ECLIPSE GLASSES (or, if you're fortunate enough to be somewhere that's in the path of totality, ONLY look while the sun is 100% covered).
That warning ⚠️ given, is anyone else (besides me) excited enough about Monday's total solar eclipse to have travel plans in the next few days?
I experienced my first total eclipse in 2017 in the small northern Georgia town of Helen GA, which is located some 85 miles NE of Atlanta. At that particular location the totality phase lasted less than 2 minutes but wow, what an awe-inspiring 2 minutes! This time around, unless you're along the edges of the path of totality, most people will have 4 to 4:25 minutes to enjoy it. I vowed seven years ago to see this eclipse and now it's just two days away.
Simply put, and I can't recommend this enough: this is a must-see event. Metro Detroit including Ann Arbor are close but no cigar. 99.5- 99.9% coverage just doesn't cut it. Neither does the appropriately 17 seconds of totality those in the Luna Pier area will be seeing.
I'm closely focused today and Sunday on the weather forecasts for Monday and planning on doing most of my drive either Sunday evening or well before dawn Monday. It's gonna be gridlock out there folks, especially if you wait until daylight Monday to travel.
Maybe it's different because we're in the path of totality, but I've been to at least four or five events where they're just giving the glasses away...
The Saturday afternoon weather forecasts are improving with less cloudiness over NW OH including Bowling Green and Findlay from 1 to 4 PM.
As for traffic, it depends on where to go. I suspect I-75 at the Bowling Green exits will be busy, with BGSU right there. Hopefully, not so much down in Findlay. It's not like everyone is going to Michigan Stadium for an Ohio State game. There will be plenty of areas within the 100% totality zone in NW OH to get a good view. I may be wrong about about the traffic flow but will agree that it will be heavy anytime after 12 noon heading south from Michigan.
Findlay will likely be worse, as it's a relatively big city close to the center of totality. They said they were expecting 100k+ in Findlay (per a cool eclipse-themed event at the children's museum down there a few weeks ago)...
Some relevant links:
(an amateur astronomer - but a very well-credentialed one - uses information that the sun is a bit larger than previously studied to recalculate the totality path)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2024/03/31/15-places-in-…
(the totality path recalculated)
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/xSE_GoogleMap3.php?…
Net result here: we thought we had 34 seconds of totality. But the new data suggests we only have 20 seconds, and will only see Bailey's Beads at totality if we stay on our back patio. Our next-door neighbor gets a second or two more - and "real" totality.
(if you're planning on traveling to Ohio, a commissioned map of expected travel flows, based on number of potential visitors to the state)
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/7855595bd0aa41318cc57d47394e38…
Net result here: expect gridlock on the north-south highways near totality - plan your travel path ahead of time, arrive very early, don't expect to get out right away. Think about parking - the metroparks will fill up fast, which means the roads leading to them might have issues with people parking on the sides of the road. This isn't a spur-of-the-moment thing - plan ahead.
Yes, of course, use glasses with eclipse filters (if you happen to be a welder, I guess that's not necessary). You can do permanent damage to your eyes in just seconds.
If you have glasses with filters from the 2017 eclipse, DO NOT use them. Apparently, the plastic degrades enough that you might not be protected. Get ISO-certified new ones. They're cheap.
Do not use glasses filters with cameras or telescopes. They require a slightly different and stronger filter. Don't even use a camera, telescope or binoculars with just a glasses filter in place.
https://blend.mdl.nws.noaa.gov/graphics.php
(expected sky cover is included among these maps - looks really good for Indiana and western Ohio now - 48 hours out, the models should be fairly accurate).
Do not use glasses filters with cameras or telescopes. They require a slightly different and stronger filter. Don't even use a camera, telescope or binoculars with just a glasses filter in place.
A local science prof told us to not even bother taking pictures, let the people who invested thousands for the right equipment take them and then just download them from the internet lol...
I just don't understand the hype 🤷♂️
Clearly, you have never seen one.
Some folks just don't get it, oh well. To each, their own.
I was going to stare straight at it with no protection and file disability paperwork Tuesday.
brailliant idea
You’ll be good - no exclusions for idiocy.
- signed, someone who processes disability paperwork.
Unfortunately, I have to work. I mean, I'm fortunate to have a great job, but unfortunate in that I will miss the total eclipse. I saw it in 2107, so I'm good.
I'm driving down to Champaign tomorrow night. Will go from there into southern Illinois Monday morning. It's mostly rural so I'm guessing traffic won't be so bad heading in, have no idea what I'll be facing afterward. Weather should be decent though.
hey rob, ah, that's not what you're dad told you would make you blind. it was something else. don't blame it on an eclipse...
The one time I think I can get away with saying see you next Tuesday
I’ll be in Nashville heading to lunch at Southern Steak and Oyster.
I better get some iso glasses. Thx for the heads up 😎
We have the day off of work and live in the line of totality, but less than 2min of it. We can drive in several directions for a better view (almost 4min), but we are keeping plans flexible so we can adjust to the weather forecast.
Not sure if we'll plan for a picnic or bring the grill somewhere, or maybe find a small restaurant/bar somewhere with outdoor seating. Probably will avoid the larger cities and expressways.
You mean I'll be a BigTen ref?
Got a great AirBnB for 6 in Cleveland near the zoo Sunday and Monday nights. With the WBB finals and totality, Cleveland is going to be insane all weekend. Decided to not spend the $$$ for WBB tickets, but have a reservation at Great Lakes Brewing for the game. Weather looks at least partly sunny for Monday. (And yes we have our ISO certified glasses).
Got a great AirBnB for 6 in Cleveland near the zoo Sunday and Monday nights. With the WBB finals and totality, Cleveland is going to be insane all weekend. Decided to not spend the $$$ for WBB tickets, but have a reservation at Great Lakes Brewing for the game. Weather looks at least partly sunny for Monday. (And yes we have our ISO certified glasses).
Since you apparently have 2 great AirBnBs reserved, do you mind if I and five other of your favorite MGoBoard members use one of them?
Come on down! I don’t post often, but excited about my first double post!
I live in AZ, in 2017 we flew to Denver and drove up to Casper, WY. We rented a 40x40 foot campsite on a well-plowed field (the local hotels were going for $1500/nt!). Felt fortunate to be able to fill up the gas tank as we arrived. They had a BBQ truck on site, very welcomed! Saw the eclipse the next morning with about 2:45 of totality, it was truly spectacular with only wisps of clouds. We were packed and ready to leave as soon as the sun started peeking back out, and I had allowed 10 hours to do a 4 hour drive. The State Troopers pretty much closed the interstate and most major roads, we literally sat in place for hours and didn't make it back in time. No hotel rooms were available anywhere in Denver, one of our traveling companions (who had asked the waitress at Dennys at 2:00 AM if the gouda cheese in the #5 omelet was imported?) sorta knew someone in Aurora and we were able to beg sleeping space on her living room floor for 2 nights until we were finally able to catch a plane back to Phx.
After all of this, COMPLETELY worth it. Utterly spectacular. Life changing and all that...!
So this time we are flying to Detroit and staying with my brother-in-law in AA, then driving down the next morning to Findlay. Praying that the predicted "partial cloudy" will not be a factor. This will be my brother-in-law's 13th or 14th total eclipse, he has literally traveled everywhere in the world except Antartica to see them, and has already made plans for the Northern Spain eclipse in 2026.
btw- there is a HUGE difference between a 99% eclipse and totality. If you are anywhere near the path of totality, I can't urge you enough to make the effort to be in the right place at the right time.
Here you go. I just saved you a lot of time and money. Thank me later. Or Venmo me at partypooper-1 dot venmo
Y’all are really into this eclipse. I am in the I really could care less camp. Post some pics.
I'm in Lima, OH and we are in the Path of Totality (great metal band name). I do have to work but luckily I have some flexibility with my schedule so I plan to work 4am-12pm at a job site thats just a couple minutes from my house. Lima is supposed to be quite busy so I'm wanting to get home and situated so I can have some eclipse beers in the driveway while waiting for the thing to start. I'm pretty dang excited for it, actually.
No plan. I live in a suburb of Indianapolis so I'll just walk out to my front yard
My elementary school kids have school, so we'll have to make it work here in Detroit. The 99.5% is good enough for me now that we're National Champions.
Long ski weekend in CO. Too far out of the zone, I’ll be curious about the shadows but not planning on active viewing. Honestly, I remember being underwhelmed with a prior, partial eclipse (I’m old) so I’m not too worried about missing out.
Driving from Maryland to Northern NY after deciding forecast looked more stable than previous plans for staying in Arkansas or Dayton. I willhave to get up super early to drive several hours Monday morning now since that was the best I could do at the last minute for hotels. Hoping this works out because my trip to SC in 2017 resulted in seeing just clouds at totality, though I was only 10 to 15 miles from a colleague who had a great view (and it only took about 15 minutes to drive out from under the clouds afterwards). Some spots in Ohio and Indiana look like they may be OK, so good luck to everyone trying to view this rare event. Definitely try to get to totality if you can.
I get about 3 min 40 sec of totality in my back yard so that’s where I’ll be
I’m in the West suburbs of Cleveland and just a few miles from the exact centerline of the total eclipse. Coupled with the Women’s NCAA Championship and the Guardians’ home opener on Monday - crazy times are ahead. All schools and municipal buildings will be closed on Monday and traffic will be absolutely crazy. Most, if not all, motels and hotels have been booked a year in advance here in Cleveland.
West side suburb of Cleveland. Trying to decide if the driveway or backyard will be the better view. Tired of all the hype.
Flying to in-laws in Ohio tomorrow. About a 40-mile drive to reach the path of totality. Will drive back home (to DC area) Tuesday a.m. Fingers crossed on traffic, but will just stay patient. I was pleasantly surprised that plane tickets for our flight out were not unreasonable.
Still remember the last time I saw the e-clips
Need to hunt for some eclipse glasses in A2 today, considering driving down to Toledo tomorrow mid-morning and working remotely somewhere until it's time to wander outside and look.
In 2017, the eclipse was on my birthday and we watched from our front lawn with many friends who had flown in from around the country. The night before, we rented the Planetarium for a birthday party, and they put on a sky show about the eclipse for us.
This time we are in Mazatlan, Mexico because I thought we'd have the best chance of clear skies anywhere in the path of totality. We made our plans last August, and we were barely able to get flights and a hotel room. Unfortunately, the forecast tomorrow is kind of iffy. But in 2017, the sun was obscured by clouds until just before totality, when the clouds vanished, giving us a spectacular sight.
We met a man here who said that this will be his 11th eclipse and the same thing with clouds has happened to him. He said that can happen because of the temperature drop. Then I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that said this is definitely a known phenomenon. So we have our fingers crossed.
Here's to everyone getting clear skies tomorrow!
For those of you with experience, how important (if at all) is visualizing the horizon during totality? We’ll have a solid 3.5min in my backyard which is suburban/rural. I can see the vast majority of the sky, but not horizon all the way around. Howeva… there’s a park in town with almost 360 degrees of horizon and I’m debating if the hassle of getting there will be valuable or not. TIA.
Don’t know why it would be. But i’ll be watching on the beach tomorrow, so I’ll see— if I can get my eyes off the eclipsed sun. And, btw, if you haven’t seen one before, photos are misleading. The sky isnt black, more like dusk.
The sun or the wanking?
We ended up driving a half-hour to a nature preserve - 2:49 of totality instead of the 20 seconds we would have had at home. It was great. Partly cloudy day, but clear where it mattered during totality. Not what we expected. We thought it was worth the hype.
We were coming back from a trip and drove from DTW to Fremont Ohio. The traffic getting to Toledo was something else - worse than football but not as bad as Woodstock. We used the Waze and it took us on dirt roads and neighborhood streets. Once we got to Ohio there wasn't any traffic. We watched from the town. There was 3:38 of totality - About 15 seconds less than the centerline but about twice as much as Toledo. We got there just as the partial eclipse was starting and about an hour before it was total.
It was definitely worth the trip. We used the glasses when it was partial. I had seen that before. We knew it was total when we could see nothing through the glasses. We could then take them off and see the corona around the blocked sun. We could also see Venus and Jupiter in the sky. It could off a bit and kind of felt like a storm was coming but it wasn't as dark as it is at nighttime.
We waited an hour before going home but the traffic in Toledo and Monroe was bad. Glad to be home watching the game.
It was amazing and awesome in the literal sense of the words. We watched it in Mazatlan on a terrace overlooking the beach. To answer someone's question, we didn't notice any difference on the horizon except maybe it was.a little brighter, but the ocean looked more intense and even kind of shiny.
The sky was darker than I recall from 2017, perhaps because of the partial cloud cover.
One of the fun parts of being there was meeting many people from other parts of the US and from Canada and even the world. We met a man from Denver who said this was his 11th eclipse and a retired French radiologist with his French and Uraguayan family of 8 who was on his 8th eclipse. We may see them again in Spain in 2026 and Luxor in 2027.
From what I saw, there were clear skies everywhere, so I'm glad everyone who wanted to see it had a wonderful experience.