REPORTS: Total solar eclipse, August 21, 2017

[Cody Taylor]

I targeted Beatrice Nebraska. I knew it would be a gamble due to cloud cover, but this was the only option for me. I arrived in Beatrice around 9am. The sky was mostly clear, however there were thick clouds to the south and east from the rain in that area. As it got closer to ten, showers started to develop back to the west and i started to get concerned. I then headed northwest to a dirt road about 4 miles east of Geneva, Nebraska. I was able to watch the entire show and it was an amazing experience. Here are a few photos.

 

[KenMcWatters]

I saw the eclipse from Jefferson City, MO. I posted earlier in the thread that I would travel to Nebraska if I had to, but thankfully that wasn't necessary! We had a few areas of scattered cirrus clouds as the eclipse started, but it didn't obstruct the view.

As another poster noted, this felt a lot like a storm chase, or actually an anti-storm chase, chasing clear skies instead of storm clouds. I was obsessing over the weather conditions up until the partial eclipse started and skies remained mostly sunny, then I knew I could relax and enjoy the show.

In the last half hour before totality the light got dimmer.. if you don't look up it's similar to clouds moving in before a storm. But the last 5 minutes were very different.. it got noticably darker minute by minute. The darkening sky to the NW looked very ominous. My videocamera was pointed in that direction, but it looked even darker in person. I watched through my eclipse glasses as the sliver of crescent sun disappeared, and heard people nearby to my location start cheering. When I took off my glasses I noted the 360 degree sunset. Then looking up, the eclipsed sun with its corona was a very beautiful sight. Pictures don't do it justice. The corona is not very bright, appearing like a cool fire around the moon. I brought binonculars and although it was hard at first finding it in the viewfinder, once I did it was very nice to see a closer view of the eclipse and fine details of the corona, filling the binoculars. Then at the end, I saw the diamond ring with my glasses off as the sun reappeared. The light quickly returned back to normal. It seemed to end much too soon.

As I mentioned, I used my videocamera to capture the darkening sky and the eclipse, which you can watch at this link. Also here is a screen capture of the eclipsed sun from that video. My videocamera wasn't the best, not sensitive enough to capture all the nuances you see in person... but again pictures don't do it justice.

Traffic was no problem at all getting there, as people arrived at staggered times. The traffic problems were much more noticable afterwards. I headed south out of Jefferson City only about 20 minutes after totality ended, and still ended up with heavy traffic (half the cars had Texas plates) and occasional backups near a couple of traffic lights in the Lake of the Ozarks area. I continued to monitor my traffic map on Google maps and the backups grew longer after I got through, so I was lucky. My overall delay was only about an hour.

I feel fortunate to have seen something so rare. Although I'm not going to become an eclipse chaser, I will have the opportunity to see 2 more total eclipses within short driving distance in my lifetime in 2024 and 2045.

 

[JamesCaruso]

I managed to miss the diamond ring both times. I was distracted by what was going on around me and wasn't sure glasses on or off for it. We had 1 minute and 48 sec. of totality, I think.

!!

Nancy, I feel the same way, I feel like I missed certain things... I felt like I saw the second diamond ring but my memory of it is obviously muddled because my mental image recalled it being on the wrong side of the moon... I also regret looking at the sunset on only one side rather than 360 degrees, but there was just so much to try to take in during a short time, and I didn't want to lose time looking at the eclipse itself...

In my earlier report post I said it was like storm chasing in some ways, and this is another way: later second-guessing myself after reading others' posts ;-)



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jeff House]

Very happy to learn that KCMO did indeed receive a mesoscale miracle. I would have had a heart attack with all those clouds, but apparently you all are here to tell about it. In contrast the Tennessee Valley was a slam dunk. James C I'm so glad you got to share Totality with your family. I did so as well in East Tenn. Safe to say this makes up for storm season 100 times!

Sitting in Chattanooga 7-10 days ago I was considering alternate locations due to the forecast. By Day 5 hope began to mount that it could work in East Tenn. Then 2-3 days out I was thrilled to see our forecast way better than climatology, Wyoming climo! Memphis storm chasing partner elected to come this way a day out. We laughed at the irony because it's usually me heading west.

Cloud forecasts, PW forecasts, 700/vv/RH forecasts, and climo (lower elevation) all pointed to the intersection of the centerline and the Tennessee River. Convenient! Lucky so close to home I could enjoy this with my family as well. We all rolled out uneventfully in the morning. Stopped in Decatur, Tenn to look at data. Found a kind church and some nice eclipse chasing families, and just stayed there.

Scattered Cu evaporate about 30 minutes before Totality. Heat and humidity give way to pleasant weather. Cicadas start up a couple minutes before totality. Shadow bands dance on a white blanket somebody brought. Northwest sky turns Royal blue before a navy blue paintbrush colors it even darker. Few seconds later the Cu on the horizon (Plateau) flips from white to grey. Almost immediately the shadow envelops us. Totality!

I miss the diamond ring going in because the northwest horizon mesmerizes me. No regrets! My adrenaline peaks with shadow bands and the sky shadow. It's really happening! Look up at totality to witness God's second greatest gift to man. Bright ring around the moon fades to a dimmer yet radiant milk. Whiskers or cotton candy strands stretch out left and right. Adrenaline gives way to pure awe. Venus is hanging out with us too.

Is this real? Am I one of those lucky people who travel to exotic destinations for total solar eclipses? Well, yes, I'm right up the road with family and friends. 360 degree sunrise/set is incredible. High clouds outside the path are still white on the navy blue sky. Almost look like noctilucent clouds, but they are conventional cirrus. Quickly I remember solar flares are seen more easily through binoculars. Boom! Prominence is ejecting hot pink orange at 5 o'clock on the Sun. Not much totality left. Drop binoculars and observe the main show again. Navy blue button over the sun gives way to the corona cotton candy and whiskers. Oh my it is the sight of a lifetime!

 

[Jacob Hernandez]

To everyone who bailed on Central Nebraska, I guess I need to thank you lowering the traffic congestion, lol. Coming north from Moore, OK, I kept watching the models as they showed my original target, Grand Island, NE being under cloud cover. I considered changing my destination to somewhere in north central Missouri, as it would be about the same driving distance. If it was just me, I wouldn't stress out about this so much, but I was bringing my mom, girlfriend, and a dog with, so I felt so much more pressure.

We stopped in a McDonald's parking lot in Wichita, KS and I debated for like 30 minutes as to where to go. One model run showed that Missouri was the better choice, and the next would say Nebraska. Finally, I forced myself to choose and I decided to go to my first choice, Grand Island, NE.

The whole way there I was second guessing myself. When I wasn't driving, I was thinking about how terrible I would feel if I blew this, and I couldn't sleep. Even when we got to Grand Island, I never feel asleep as I kept looking at model data to see if we should move further west, and I never got a clear answer.

The morning comes and one of my coworkers was also going to Grand Island, but wasn't as willing to move. I could see clouds to our south and southeast, but our southwest was clear, save for a few cirrus. Time kept passing and I finally said that I'm willing to take our chances at the Grand Island Walmart Supercenter parking lot on the south side of town.

As the eclipse started, the clouds stayed away and I was paranoid that something would block our view of totality. But as we got closer to 12:58 pm, there was nothing moving into the path of the sun and moon. the lights dimmed around us, and it was a very eerie feeling. Like, if you stepped outside and had no idea what was going on in the sky, you could tell that something was off. The temperature began to drop and we could see the sliver of the sun start to fade through our eclipse glasses. Finally the sun was completely blocked and we got the experience of a lifetime.

My girlfriend had her tripod set up and was able to take some great pictures, but this one of the eclipse with Mercury to the left is my favorite.

I just sat in the grass and took it all in. The stress of planning, travel, and spending money was all worth it for this moment.

If you missed this one, start planning now for the 2024 eclipse. It will be worth it, especially if it's your first one.

We got home at 9 pm last night. and I slept like a rock.

 

[JeremyS]

First of all, Jeremy, that shot of the diamond ring phase is incredible! I cheated and kept my glasses off as C3 passed and witnessed the second happening of it before glancing away. It remains the single most memorable part of the eclipse itself for me.

Second of all, we were probably VERY close. Hell, for all I know we may have crossed paths. I was maybe 200-300 m north of the intersection of Airport Rd and Road 44 almost exactly 4.0 miles due southwest of the highway 2/11 intersection in the center of Cairo. But I took Airport road west from NE-11 on the way in and then Road 44 north to NE-2 on the way out. Were you one of the groups I saw? I was in a dented up blue Mazda:

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Hey Jeff- Thank you! I feel I really got lucky. I was just snapping some pics while trying to also look around me and take it all in. It's weird, totality happened so fast, that it seems like I can hardly remember a lot of details. I sometimes feel like I spent a little too much time focused on equipment, but when there's only 2 1/2 minutes, there's not a lot of time to work with. In the excitement of totality starting, I didn't initially take off my filter, so I remember looking down and seeing black on my screen after I would take a picture and for a few moments trying to figure out what was happening.
After I took the filters off, I didn't adjust my shutter speeds enough to be able to capture the beads or prominences. I do have some pictures of the corona that I haven't worked on yet. Can't complain too much though, since I got the diamond ring at the perfect time. I don't remember seeing the diamond ring at the beginning of totality, but when totality ended it was impressive.
My group of friends and family ended up maybe 2 miles west off of Hwy 2 where we turned south on Chapman rd and then about 2 miles south on Indian Creek? Rd we went west about 1/2 mile. I don't remember seeing your car, but we didn't really see anyone else outside of town. Glad you had a safe trip for the long drive and things worked out for you! I've heard many a story of people down in southeast Nebraska coming back towards Omaha and 100 mile trip took 3-4 hours.

 

[Darren Lo]

I targeted the Tennessee Valley area and spent Sunday driving around the vicinity of the path of totality looking for good spots. In the end, I found a small park directly under the center line to camp out in and await the show. A line of low cumulus clouds formed over the higher terrain to my west during the day on Monday, but the sky overhead remained clear for totality. The temperature drop as totality approached was both very noticeable and very welcome.

I had planned not to distract myself by taking any pictures, but I did have my typical storm chasing photography gear with me and decided at the last minute to at least put my longest telephoto lens on (a 70-200 zoom), point the camera at the sun, hook up the cable release, and Google up some exposure values for the total eclipse. I ended up with a vastly overexposed corona, blown beyond recovery -- but it was still a nice little memento of what I saw, however underwhelming it may be compared to the actual experience. The one positive consequence of overexposing was that it's possible to see the face of the Moon.

There weren't many good road options to get back to northern Virginia, so I was mostly confined to the interstates on my return journey, which was agonizingly slow.

 

[JeremyS]

Here's part of the video I took from the eclipse. Includes the last couple of minutes before totality, totality, and then a few minutes after. Loved hearing all of our reactions I had my video camera zoomed in really tight on the eclipse the entire time. If I had 3 more eyeballs and 4 more hands, I would have loved to have taken video of the entire sky and horizon, etc. lol!

 

[JeremyS]

Not sure if anyone else has heard about this phenomenon, but we were able to see it and experience it ourselves. You can hear us talking about it right before totality. For reasons unknown to scientists, on usually white objects, you can see these "waves" of light going back and forth right before totality. We happened to have a white sheet on the ground that we were using for other "experiments", but could clearly see it. Very creepy and cool!


Sent from my iPhone using Stormtrack

 

[Jeff Duda]

Not sure if anyone else has heard about this phenomenon, but we were able to see it and experience it ourselves. You can hear us talking about it right before totality. For reasons unknown to scientists, on usually white objects, you can see these "waves" of light going back and forth right before totality. We happened to have a white sheet on the ground that we were using for other "experiments", but could clearly see it. Very creepy and cool!

Those are called shadow bands or shadow snakes. I definitely saw them both before and after totality. They were covered in a video I linked to in the predictions thread. Pretty cool.

While I'm at it, the same guy also captured a transit of the ISS between C1 and C2. It seemed to catch a lot of attention on Twitter on Monday. He made a video of that event on his channel:

 

[JeremyS]

Those are called shadow bands or shadow snakes. I definitely saw them both before and after totality. They were covered in a video I linked to in the predictions thread. Pretty cool.

While I'm at it, the same guy also captured a transit of the ISS between C1 and C2. It seemed to catch a lot of attention on Twitter on Monday. He made a video of that event on his channel:

That must have been where I heard about them. A friend tried to take a video of the bands with her cell phone, but you couldn't really see them.
Very cool video, thanks for sharing!

 

[Rick Schmidt]

Here is a shot through the clouds of Bailey's Beads from Reserve Ks., taken with 500mm f/8 mirror lens. If I had not brought my 85 yr. old mother to see this, I would have been in western Neb. Now on to the next one in 7 years!

 

[Phil Bates]

Clear skies in Salem, Oregon. Fortunately, winds kept the smoke away. Like other reports, the traffic was only a little heavier than normal. No problems with food or gas.

 

[Mitch Magee]

After poring over forecasts for ten days and satellite images throughout the day before the eclipse, I decided to ditch Kansas City and go with Plan B. A possible 'cirrostratus shield' over KC that the NWS forceaster mentioned Sunday evening was the last straw. The likely Iowa MCS and signaled morning KC convection pushed me past St. Louis. A chance of convection in SE MO landed me in Kentucky. After watching cumulus fields avoid river valleys and reservoirs on satellite images, I settled on the town of Eddyville, which is on the center line and the leeward side of Lake Barkley. This 'cloud shadow' strategy may have worked out, because we had puffy clouds on all sides of us, but never overhead. (Someday, I would like to get some high-res visible sat images of the area to confirm.) The only clouds present near the sun were some scattered cirrus coming in from the west. These were never an issue.

I don't have any eclipse photos to offer. I figure the 2m 40s would have evaporated while fumbling with some silly camera just to get photos that are no better than the millions that will soon appear on Instagram. That turned out to be a good choice since I was reaching sensory overload as totality commenced. I could barely handle a pair of binoculars at that point.

Needless to say, the eclipse was awesome beyond words, yet there is one phenomenon worth noting that I haven't heard anyone mention before. At the beginning of totality, just as I saw the sunlight on the ground switch to a cold, shadowless pall, I swung around and looked up to behold the moon and corona basking in a warm, golden glow. This appearance of the eclipse was stunning and utterly unexpected. The glow faded to the quality of the light of a midnight full moon by mid-eclipse. The glow returned as the sun was about come back out, though I didn't make as much of a mental note this time. After thinking about it for a bit, I figured the warm glow was due to the chromosphere (which I didn't see directly) adding its color and brilliance to light up the surrounding sky.

 

[Jeremy Perez]

Experiencing the eclipse was beyond words...but I tried anyway. Blog post and images over here:

2017 Solar Eclipse

Our road trip wound up in Broken Bow, Nebraska the night before, but threat of clouds was too much to bear and we bailed westward at 4AM through a horrendous fogscape. We caught the eclipse under perfect skies in the sand hills north of Mitchell. Intervalometers and a scripting program "Solar Eclipse Maestro" let me pre-arrange the shots so I didn't have to fuss with the camera during totality. No way I would've wanted to mess with images otherwise. Like Mitch said about sensory overload...definitely that.

Corona and Earthshine


Observing totality in the sand hills north of Mitchell


Bailey's Beads at the end of totality


Diamond Ring effect just before totality