I just wanted to note that comments about predicted weather for the eclipse would be more meaningful if people also indicated where they lived (or included this on their profiles) and/or where they planned to observe the eclipse if it’s not where they live.
I agree with that; but will add that some of us, including me and, I note, you, show that info if you click on our avatars. I really wish more people would do that (or, as a couple of people have done now that this is possible, in their titles.) In this long a thread, mentions in the text of posts may well get lost even in the memories of those who have read the whole thing.
I’m in southern Ontario but just outside the totality zone, so plan on driving further south into wine country, which is closer than I would like to what is expected to be a huge influx of humanity into the area around Niagara Falls. I think most of wine country down there is technically Niagara Region, so I expect a lot of traffic. I plan on taking a toll expressway most of the way because it’s usually uncrowded, then local highways, avoiding the major expressway going toward Niagara Falls.
Whereabouts?
My daughter lives in Rutland, about that distance; back when the eclipse topic came up, we considered combining the viewing with a trip to see her. We did try to find places in the Burlington area, but everyone was (not surprisingly) asking 600 bucks or thereabouts per night on AirBNB.
As I’ve grumbled before: when our first choice for a spot fell through immediately, we kept looking further and further west until we found a place that a) was available, b) was affordable, and c) didn’t cancel immediately. I lived in fear for months that they would realize how much more they could have charged, and cancel the reservation.
Having just paid the balance of our rate to AirBNB, and had a message from the owners, I think we’re OK.
The forecast for our destination has gone from “sunny” to “partly sunny”; still 6 days away so I’m expecting it to slip into “heavy snowfall” any time.
Photos of the place show a dock extending into the lake that the house overlooks; I was looking forward to that being our watch-the-eclipse spot, but the owners said it’s not deployed right now (due to concerns over late freezes), so we’ll have to scope out the property and look for a better spot to watch.
We’ll be in Franklin County, NY - anyone else near there?
I’ve just arrived in Mazatlán on Mexico’s Pacific coast wherefrom I will observe the eclipse. The centerline of totality will make landfall a few kilometers south of here.
At local noon it’s a spectacularly clear day. On the 2nd. Just 6 days plus 5 hours left for conditions to deteriorate, but the ridiculously early returns are favorable 
@Mama_Zappa We’ll be in Essex County, NY - south of you. And the area is expecting heavy snow in a day or 2!
I started looking in the area between Burlington and Montpelier (and Stowe, where I went skiing this past weekend) and found nothing. Then I kept looking further and further south in Vermont and western New Hampshire, reasoning that anything I got was better than driving all the way up from Connecticut on the day of the eclipse—and I want to beat the wave of traffic from NYC, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. I also wanted a refundable room, since my plans are not yet set in stone.
I considered a couple of B&B’s, but they were far off the beaten track and also non-refundable. Another B&B that I often stay at for ski trips to Okemo was full. So I ended up with a major chain hotel in Brattleboro. I got one of their last rooms. For a bit, I thought I was going to have to start looking in Greenfield, MA but that is even farther south.
Brattleboro is itself much farther south than I would have liked, but you take what you can get when possibly changing plans at the last minute.
Ideally I would have gotten a hotel room right on the edge of totality like I did for Texas, but I never imagined that the predicted cloud cover would flip from historical trends the way it has.
Yeah, but that system’s supposed to moved out before Monday. Here, at least, by sometime Saturday. – you’re east of me. Is it not supposed to have moved out from there?
Waco’s weather says 20% chance of clouds. I’ll take that chance. It’s 6 days away.
According to this website, which just updated a few minutes ago, Waco is currently predicted to have 45% cloud cover, which is a definite improvement. Burlington, VT has also improved to 16% predicted cloud cover.
At least it’s interstate the whole way from Brattleboro. Rutland has US 7 through every small town in that part of the state.
For some reason, recently I googled the Trapp Family Lodge, and their web page says they’re having a viewing event there! (that’s in Stowe).
We’ll be closer to Burlington than to Buffalo, fortunately.
LOL on the snow. I guess the owners of our place are spot on, with not putting the dock out just yet.
When I booked it, our housemate said “Oh, we don’t care if it’s cold, we’ll still swim!”. I pointed out that where we’re going, it will still be WINTER. We’re basically in CANADA (not far off; as far as I can tell, we would turn left out of the driveway, and go straight for 10 or 15 miles and get to a border crossing).
I noticed that too last night when I was trying (and failing) to find lodging there! And coincidentally enough, you’re the second person today to mention it to me.
The thought of going there to see the eclipse is appealing, ideally followed by dinner at their wonderful restaurant. They have some of the best Wiener schnitzel I’ve had in the U.S. Sadly I was so wiped out from skiing this past weekend that I was too tired to go over there for dinner.
However, I am hesitant to lock myself down to one particular viewing location. Everything I’ve read about eclipses says that you should always be ready to quickly relocate in the event of inadvertent clouds. And Stowe is particularly problematic in that regard because Route 108 is closed off to the north in winter, so you can find yourself stuck on a dead-end main road with only one way out.
But I may reconsider and I am open to suggestions…I’m not exactly sure where to go in Vermont to best see the eclipse.
Weather Underground for DFW is now predicting isolated thunderstorms, with a 2% chance of rain and 9% cloud cover. Predictions of rain are moving towards later in the week.
To clarify: by “heavy snow in a day or 2”, I meant a day or 2 from today, so starting Wednesday and continuing Thursday. Depending on how much falls (maybe a foot or more in the Adirondacks) there could be some left on the ground on April 8.
Yup; same system.
Good point. Unless we get an extraordinary amount of snow for April (which we’re not supposed to), I expect ours to be gone; the snow’s supposed to be Thursday and it’s then expected to be above freezing almost the whole time starting Friday, with a Sunday forecast of 51º and sun (as well as 59º on Monday.) But I’m not in the Adirondacks, which may well both get more snow and stay colder.
– current forecast this area is mostly sun Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Which is very encouraging for the Monday. (As well as for my fields to start drying out after three days of rain – )
You might find me up there, if the weather in Kerrville is bad.
My road trip eastward continues. Today in Las Vegas we went to the Atomic Museum. It’s quite good. We spent 4 hours there. We hit the road in the morning for the small town of Chinle AZ. Along the way we plan to hit Hoover Dam (briefly), Meteor Crater and Petrified Forest.
The migration to totality continues!
Chinle? Going to Canyon de Chelly? It’s definitely not on the best route to Texas.
My wife needs dialysis so we’re doing that in Chinle. And then yes, we’ll be going to Canyon de Chelly because we’ll be in Chinle.
Well, dang! We will miss each other again because I am planning a stop at the Meteor Crater on Saturday while heading off to Dallas.