You’re overthinking this. As soon as totality ends the sun will be blazingly bright and you won’t be able to look at it. You’ll immediately put your eclipse glasses back on. Unless you already today have some kind of sensory numbness whereby you do not avert your eyes when, for example, the sun appears from behind a skyscraper you were admiring, you’ll be fine.
ETA — The sun’s power is incredible. That was one takeaway from the 2017 eclipse experience — how well the surroundings are lit even with much of the sun eclipsed. The surrounding countryside (I was in western Idaho) stayed bright with nary a noticeable dimming until the sun was almost fully eclipsed.
I didn’t take notes from 2017, but if memory serves the surrounding countryside looked fully lit to me until the sun was eclipsed about 95%. That’s when I started to see a noticeable dimming of the surroundings.
At that moment I conjured images of European explorers in the 1600s threatening natives with something akin to, if you do not give me your valuables I will take the sun from the sky. I am a god. I am not someone to be trifled with!!
I have a beautiful compact Meade Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope, modeled after the classic Celestron of the same type, complete with auto-tracking and many different eyepieces. I’m not going to use it. Why? Because I don’t know where the f**k it is! DId I mention it was compact? I haven’t seen it in the roughly ~11 years I’ve been in the current house. I’ve no doubt that it’s in one of the moving boxes in the basement that I haven’t unpacked yet. (Unpacking between moves takes me a while – generally between 10 to 30 years! It actually works out OK because when it’s time for the next move, a lot of stuff is still packed!)
I had thought about taking some vacation time to head home and see my family during the eclipse, seeing as how my hometown is not that far outside of the path of totality. But, like many others, I decided I wasn’t big on the possibility of having clouds get in the way and wreck everything, so I changed my mind. Now, of course, I’m rooting for clouds, clouds, clouds all day long to feel justified in my choice.
My friend and I now have a specific place to go to.
I called up somebody who’d sold at our farmers’ market a couple of years ago, to find out whether she wanted to come back – and we realized during the conversation that her farm is right in the area I’d been meaning to head to. She checked; she’ll get 2 minutes 16 seconds of totality. And she invited us to come watch it from there – so we’ll have a farm to hang out on, multiple species of domestic birds and various other creatures to admire, and (this is important!) access to a bathroom.
Well I am spending thousands of dollars, taking time off work and flying to another country for the eclipse so I am really, reaaaaaalllllllly hoping for clear skies!
It’s still too early for even the 10 day forecast to reach the eclipse date, but so far it’s not looking terrific in Austin, where I’m going. The 2nd and 3rd are sunny; the 4th, 5th and 6th are cloudy, with showers on the 6th. Argh. I’m sure it will clear up by the 8th. Right? RIGHT???
I try not to look at weather forecasts at all until a day beforehand. More than three weeks away? I wouldn’t waste too much energy worrying about it. In any case, it is what it is. On a clear day a stray cloud could cover the eclipse, and on a cloudy day the eclipse could appear in a random patch of blue sky. I’ll be in the Austin area, too (traveling from Pittsburgh, PA), and I’m just hoping for the best!
I saw the 2017 eclipse in Fulton, Missouri, about an hour west of the outer St. Louis suburbs.
At about 97%, my surroundings didn’t darken so much as they faded from color, to B&W. That was weird! Plus, when Bailly’s Beads, the re-emergence of the sun through lunar valleys, are too bright to look at with the naked eye, so Nature wastes no time in letting you know when eye protection is needed.
I know a woman whose attitude about the eclipse was “Nice, but I’m not really interested.” She happened to go to Walmart as things transitioned to about 90% coverage, and there were people parked there, standing in the grass with glasses on watching it, and she did notice the crescent shadows. She realized why people were so fascinated by this when she arrived home, and even though it didn’t seem any darker outside, she walked into her house and it was dark as night! That was really freaky to her.
I also witnessed a 60% eclipse just after I graduated from college in 1994. We had some kind of pre-boards class, and came out to the streetlights being on, crescent shadows, and the temperature had dropped by 10 or so degrees. At that moment, I knew that a total eclipse would be on my own personal bucket list.
The comet that may or may not be visible during the eclipse sometimes presents a shape that looks like horns, and is therefore nicknamed the “Devil Comet”.
I suspect way too much shit will be made out of that. I do hope to see it, though.
I used to travel to STLMO several times a year for work. I liked exploring the surrounding area. It’s a nice place. If totality were to be there, seeing it at the Gateway Arch would be a good experience, right there on the river.
Regarding this — “Nature wastes no time in letting you know when eye protection is needed” — indeed she (Mother Nature) does. Pain is a strong motivator. And it happens immediately, at least for most.
I have extra eclipse glasses and it’s been fun handing them out. I gave one to my doctor and she was really excited. Even for people who don’t care, I’ll give them a pair and tell them when it starts. Here where I live it will only be a 35% partial eclipse but still that would be interesting to look at. Who knows, they might get interested and get to totality for the next one. They’ve been good conversation starters.
To stock up on food? Do they think the eclipse is going to last long enough for people to start going hungry? Do they think the tourists are going to descend like a ravening army, and eat everything in the grocery stores?
I mean, I’m in favor of everybody in general keeping some stock of food in the house at all times, if they can afford it and have some place to put it. But that’s absurd. It’s an eclipse, not a three-day blizzard that can block the roads for the rest of the week.
Filling the gas tank a bit ahead of time makes sense, to avoid lines at the gas stations. There will be extra traffic, both in areas of totality and in areas people are likely to travel through to get there.