There appears to be a major weather system moving in overnight that will bring cloudy skies and a chance of rain for the rest of the week to all of southern Ontario and probably points well beyond. I checked the forecast for Niagara Falls just now because it’s supposed to be a major eclipse-watching gathering point, and the forecast is exactly the same as it is right here: mainly cloudy, which has just been updated to add “40% chance of rain”.
I may still drive to my friend’s place tomorrow if I can get a rental car, but I’ll leave that decision to tomorrow morning and see how bad the weather is. There are three Enterprise locations not far from here and surely one of them will have something. It’s a logistical nightmare. On the brighter side, rental costs which were absolutely extortionate post-COVID are back down to normal.
The wall of cirrostratus that had scared me is just now sliding south of us. So it’ll keep streaming onshore for another couple hundred miles’ worth but not directly over where I am. I can see about a hundred miles out to sea at altitude and there’s just nothing coming up that axis.
The winds at the relevant altitude are about 100 knots, so 19 hours means anything within 1900 miles upwind could get here by then. GOES shows a couple of spreading cirrus long-lines, probably triggered by contrails. They’re not real dense (yet) and would have to be in just the wrong place to matter.
As worried as I was at breakfast time, now I’m pretty optimistic.
Conversely AccuWeather now has hourlies going out past our eclipse time of ~11am local. They say 9am & 10am are “intermittent clouds”, 11am is “partly sunny” as is 12pm. Then it gets worse, to “mostly cloudy” at 2pm then “cloudy” by 4pm. But by then who cares? - the show is elsewhere. So they are less optimistic than I.
We’ll all see what tomorrow brings. Feels kinda like Christmas eve. Coal or chocolate? Will we get the little red wagon we all want, or some stupid socks?
Well, a rental car is reserved for tomorrow morning, but that’s on the basis that it’s easier to cancel than to scramble at the last minute. I may still end up staying home if the weather outlook is really bad.
We made it from Chicago suburbia to Effingham, IL for the night and will be up super early to secure parking for the day at our Indiana destination. Forecasts are “partly cloudy” but fingers crossed. Apparently that means 30-60% cloud cover.
It was raining on the way down but we did get to see at least one neat sky thing even if the TSE gets clouded over.
Based on cloud cover forecasts in the NY Times (gift link here Total Solar Eclipse 2024 Weather Forecast: Latest Cloud Cover Maps - The New York Times) we’re shifting our viewing spot from the southern Adirondacks (60 to 80% cover) to Oneida Lake in Central NY(40-60% cover). The driving distance is about the same; I’d rather be by an Adirondack lake in the mountains, but the percentages look better for Oneida. I reluctantly changed our pin on the map.
The NOAA map links aren’t opening for me.
And I saw an article that said to wear red or green because of some kind of color phenomenon that can be observed with those 2 colors. Unfortunately I can’t find the link for it and I’m not sure what the color phenomenon is. Does anyone know anything about it?
Well, today is the day!! Chicagoland is being touted as the best viewing area because we are having a totally cloudless day with a crystal clear sky. Unfortunately, the one missing ingredient is “totality”. We will reach 94% which, though not perfect, is far from shoddy. My uncle in the Dallas area will have “totality”, but is in danger of having clouds spoil the show. That will be a big disappointment for his kids and spouses who have traveled there. Ah well, at least they will see each other and enjoy family.
There will be totality where I’m heading but the weather is iffy. Furthermore, the forecast from the Weather Network is more optimistic than from Environment Canada. EC says “mostly cloudy” practically everywhere in a wide area, Weather Network says partly sunny in the afternoon.
It’s go time people - this is not a drill! I’ll be heading towards Kerrville with Bullitt and Mrs Bullitt shortly. I think best case scenario for us is light cloud cover where you can still sort of see the sun. Fingers crossed for everyone!
