# If (Og Forbid) August 21 (Great American Eclipse Day) Is A Cloudy Day Where I Am... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 29, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404 "2017-07-29T19:05:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/1 "2017-07-29T19:05:29Z")
Let’s say the Universe punishes me by sending clouds overhead on the day of the Great American Eclipse, and the nearest clear skies are too far away for me to drive there. Assume total cloud cover. (I’m talking about within the path of Totality.) Obviously I won’t get to see the moon cross the sun. BUT, will I get to experience other effects of the event? Will it still go dark, or will the already-darkened skies mute the effect? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/2 "2017-07-29T19:07:52Z")
It won’t just go dark, it’ll go dead-of-night dark. It takes one heck of a weather event to get that dark in the middle of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/3 "2017-07-29T19:11:59Z")
You tell me–do you normally notice the differences between a cloudy afternoon and midnight? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/4 "2017-07-29T19:35:10Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > You tell me–do you normally notice the differences between a cloudy afternoon and midnight? Is that how dark it’s supposed to get, midnight? I’m not being obtuse here, I truly don’t know. I’ve seen videos of eclipses on YouTube and to me it looks like dusk. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/5 "2017-07-29T19:37:45Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Let’s say the Universe punishes me by sending clouds overhead on the day of the Great American Eclipse, and the nearest clear skies are too far away for me to drive there. Assume total cloud cover. (I’m talking about within the path of Totality.) > > Obviously I won’t get to see the moon cross the sun. BUT, will I get to experience other effects of the event? Will it still go dark, or will the already-darkened skies mute the effect? Sure, if you are in the path of “totality”, and the weather is overcast, the overall effect will be less dramatic, but it will still go **dark**. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/6 "2017-07-29T19:43:04Z")
Going to the Paducah, Ky (area) for the eclipse. Any suggestions for event viewing? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/7 "2017-07-29T21:44:58Z")
It will get as dark as night, except for the light from the solar corona. [This paper](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1963IAUS...16..301S), summarizing observations of six eclipses between 1936 and 1961, says the corona is about 1/4 the brightness of a full moon. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/8 "2017-07-29T22:06:11Z")
Here is a video of what the shadow of the moon looks like on the Earth during a total eclipse. Note that it is pitch black in the center of that shadow. The shadow itself is about 75 to 100 miles wide, so it’s not like you’re going to look off in the distance (if you’re in the center) and see the edge easily. Yeah, it’ll be **dark**. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/9 "2017-07-29T23:26:07Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Here is a video of what the shadow of the moon looks like on the Earth during a total eclipse. Note that it is pitch black in the center of that shadow. The shadow itself is about 75 to 100 miles wide, so it’s not like you’re going to look off in the distance (if you’re in the center) and see the edge easily. I think you forgot to include the link. Actually that raises a good point – if you’re near the edge of the totality path, you may see light from the uneclipsed land outside the path. And cloudy conditions will increase the distance at which you can see such light. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/10 "2017-07-30T01:28:39Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I think you forgot to include the link. > > Actually that raises a good point – if you’re near the edge of the totality path, you may see light from the uneclipsed land outside the path. And cloudy conditions will increase the distance at which you can see such light. Ooops. :eek::smack: [The Earth gets a hole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T76vT_eLLM) ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/11 "2017-07-30T03:11:24Z")
[Here](http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/2017_anim.HTM) are some very cool animations of the eclipse path, courtesy of NASA. Click “Download” for each one, then choose a resolution and give it a few seconds to load. _I’m being followed by a moon shadow. Moon shadow, moon shadow._ ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/12 "2017-07-30T04:25:37Z")
Dark as night … barring clouds, all the stars come out … if it’s cloudy, the next eclipse over mainland USA is 2024 … ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/13 "2017-07-30T13:49:26Z")
I’m going to differ here. Both total eclipses I have witnessed did not get to midnight dark. Not even full moon midnight dark. The sky went a very deep dark blue, but you could still see about you quite well. You could easily walk about without needing a light source. I would describe it as very late dusk. You do see stars in the sky, but it isn’t filled with stars. The light from the solar corona provides enough light for this to be so. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/14 "2017-07-30T18:19:19Z")
^ This. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/15 "2017-07-30T19:15:10Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > I’m going to differ here. Both total eclipses I have witnessed did not get to midnight dark. Not even full moon midnight dark. Hm, that’s surprising to me. Was there light on the horizon (from non eclipsed areas)? Or was all the light coming from the corona? If the latter, and if the paper I cited is correct, I don’t understand how the corona could look brighter than a full moon. Especially since your eyes wouldn’t have had time to fully dark-adapt during totality. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/16 "2017-07-31T01:04:17Z")
I recall the February 1979 eclipse that passed over the Pacific NW of the US. I lived in western Colorado at the time, and we only got 50% totality. Also, we had partly cloudy skies. Even with all of that, I recalled that the lighting outside really seemed strange. We didn’t get to watch it continuously, since it was during school, and my social studies teacher was being a jerk about us watching it. (See Mr. Morris. It’s been 38 years since I got another chance to see a solar eclipse.) Here’s what the path of the 1979 eclipse looked like. Even though totality is a very narrow path, any kind of shadow is a very wide one. [Path of 1979 solar eclipse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_February_26,_1979#/media/File:Solar_eclipse_animate_(1979-Feb-26).gif) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/17 "2017-07-31T01:21:06Z")
I’ve seen three total solar eclipses. The corona itself won’t produce much light, but you’ll be getting some light from the horizon. So if it’s cloudy, the clouds will disperse light from the horizon, so you won’t be completely in the dark. But if you look up at the clouds, you’ll see some strange colors here and there. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-og-forbid-august-21-great-american-eclipse-day-is-a-cloudy-day-where-i-am/792404/18 "2017-07-31T03:52:03Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > I’m going to differ here … [snip] > [@beowulff](#): > > ^ This. The one I saw in 1979 was a very long time ago … seemed dark as night, and I saw stars and constellations … perhaps I was distracted a bit … [giggle] …