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  1. #1

    2024 solar eclipse

    The 2024 solar eclipse is rapidly approaching on Monday, April 8. I don't know how many DBR folks live in the path of totality or are within a reasonable driving distance. The path in North American begins in Mexico, goes up through Texas, and then curves up through the Mid-West before entering western New York state and then curving up towards northern Vermont, up through Western Maine, eastern Canada and out over the Atlantic. I would have to drive about 3.5 hours to upstate New York, near the Canadian border to get in the middle of the 109-mile wide path of totality (apparently, the total eclipse lasts longer if you are in the approximate middle of the path). I'm thinking about driving up for it, providing the weather forecast is favorable (no rain or extensive clouds). There are predictions that there will be huge amounts of traffic heading toward the path of totality, in certain locations, and I'd like to avoid that, if possible. The next total eclipse in the US is not until 2044, so this may be the last chance for many people.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, D.C.

    Eclipses

    Quote Originally Posted by duke79 View Post
    The 2024 solar eclipse is rapidly approaching on Monday, April 8. I don't know how many DBR folks live in the path of totality or are within a reasonable driving distance. The path in North American begins in Mexico, goes up through Texas, and then curves up through the Mid-West before entering western New York state and then curving up towards northern Vermont, up through Western Maine, eastern Canada and out over the Atlantic. I would have to drive about 3.5 hours to upstate New York, near the Canadian border to get in the middle of the 109-mile wide path of totality (apparently, the total eclipse lasts longer if you are in the approximate middle of the path). I'm thinking about driving up for it, providing the weather forecast is favorable (no rain or extensive clouds). There are predictions that there will be huge amounts of traffic heading toward the path of totality, in certain locations, and I'd like to avoid that, if possible. The next total eclipse in the US is not until 2044, so this may be the last chance for many people.
    I went to the last eclipse, in 2017, and really enjoyed it, but we were lucky to have a relative who owned a house near the middle of the path, so we didn't have to drive anywhere that day. It was very cool. I recommend doing it, but agree that the traffic is likely to be horrible in most places.

    Still have my "I Blacked Out" t-shirt.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Undisclosed
    Quote Originally Posted by MChambers View Post
    I went to the last eclipse, in 2017, and really enjoyed it, but we were lucky to have a relative who owned a house near the middle of the path, so we didn't have to drive anywhere that day. It was very cool. I recommend doing it, but agree that the traffic is likely to be horrible in most places.

    Still have my "I Blacked Out" t-shirt.
    Agree with this, it was extremely cool. All the crickets started chirping!

    Traffic was rough, and I was in backwoods South Carolina.

    Don't forget your special sunglasses!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, D.C.

    Yep

    The insects all thought it was evening.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    Vermont is bracing for a huge influx of people (since we don't have many), doing stuff like bringing in temporary cell towers. One fly in the astronomical ointment is that there's a 70-80% of clouds in Vermont at that time of year.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by budwom View Post
    Vermont is bracing for a huge influx of people (since we don't have many), doing stuff like bringing in temporary cell towers. One fly in the astronomical ointment is that there's a 70-80% of clouds in Vermont at that time of year.
    Yea, this worries me, Bud. I'm planning to drive up to near Plattsburg, NY to view the eclipse but a strong possibility that it will be "clouded" out.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    North of Durham
    Apparently Cleveland is a prime viewing spot and the Guardians are at home that day. It will happen around 3:15 so they are opening the stadium at 2 and the game won't start until 5:10.

    https://www.mlb.com/news/guardians-h...-solar-eclipse

    April 8 is the anniversary of the death of two people very important in my life (the yahrtzeit in Judaism) and this is a milestone anniversary so the whole thing is very surreal for me. I am hoping to be enjoying watching Duke in the finals that night but not holding my breath...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Dur'm
    Quote Originally Posted by budwom View Post
    Vermont is bracing for a huge influx of people (since we don't have many), doing stuff like bringing in temporary cell towers. One fly in the astronomical ointment is that there's a 70-80% of clouds in Vermont at that time of year.
    Indeed. I believe I mentioned elsewhere that I'll be meeting my siblings up in upstate NY, where we will have about a 2-in-3 chance of seeing a spectacular cloud formation. We'll have the dark glasses in the hope that we have a lucky year, but it's not the location I would have picked for eclipse viewing.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, D.C.

    Yeah

    Quote Originally Posted by CrazyNotCrazie View Post
    Apparently Cleveland is a prime viewing spot and the Guardians are at home that day. It will happen around 3:15 so they are opening the stadium at 2 and the game won't start until 5:10.

    https://www.mlb.com/news/guardians-h...-solar-eclipse

    April 8 is the anniversary of the death of two people very important in my life (the yahrtzeit in Judaism) and this is a milestone anniversary so the whole thing is very surreal for me. I am hoping to be enjoying watching Duke in the finals that night but not holding my breath...
    Because it's never cloudy in Cleveland.

  10. #10
    We are heading up to Cincinnati to watch (just outisde totality). Plenty to do in a bigger city if it ends up being bad weather (Zoo, Aquarium, lots of other big city stuff). The current plan is to watch from the US Air Force Museum in Dayton.

    Watched the 2017 eclipse in Greenville, SC and had a blast! Go see it in totality of you can.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Greenville, SC
    We are staying with relatives in Memphis on 04/07 and hoping to drive into totality the next morning. We'll see how that goes. Normally it would be a 60 to 90 minute drive.


    In 2017 I was at Furman University in Greenville, SC in the path of totality. Since I worked there and lived one stoplight away there was no driving hassle. Most of the Furman crowd was at the football stadium for a scientific "presentation/explanation" in 95 degree heat. My small group sat under the trees by the Furman lake and watched the waterfowl settle down as it got dark and perk up 3 minutes later. The crescent shape of the leafy shadows on the ground as the eclipse progressed to and from totality was Cool Beans.
    Last edited by camion; 03-21-2024 at 05:35 PM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    We're a little north of Cincinnati, and we only need to make about a twenty minute drive to the west to reach totality.

    Just hoping for clear skies.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Summerville ,S.C.
    Quote Originally Posted by OldPhiKap View Post
    Agree with this, it was extremely cool. All the crickets started chirping!

    Traffic was rough, and I was in backwoods South Carolina.

    Don't forget your special sunglasses!
    We set up and the temperature drop
    Triggered a storm right over us near Charleston. I have a few pictures of partial but it was raging durring the total eclipse. We had fun anyway .

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Santa Cruz CA
    I saw it in 2017 near Anderson SC and it was fantastic. We did have to make a late move to dodge some clouds.
    I stayed with a friend that lived within a 1/4 mile of the center line of the path.

    I was planning to go to Texas this year for it to bring the wife as she did not come with me in 2017.
    Odds of a cloud free sky in April are supposed to be better in Texas than farther north.

    However, due to unforeseen circumstances, she doesn't want to make the trip so we will miss it.
    From what I have read, if you are anywhere in the middle half of the path of totality, you will be good.
    Some purists actually prefer to be closer to the edge as there are things you can see there that you miss if you are dead center.

    Very good source if info at this website run by a guy that lives and breathes eclipses.

    http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages...oogleMaps.html

  15. #15
    Here in Asheville we had a pretty dang good look at the most recent event. I did invest in 10 pairs of glasses to share with my coworkers this go round.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by duke79 View Post
    There are predictions that there will be huge amounts of traffic heading toward the path of totality, in certain locations, and I'd like to avoid that, if possible.
    Any notions of what it might be like on/near an interstate highway going through the path of totality in a rural area?

    I need to travel that way anyway at some point in the next 2 months; I'm just curious how foolish it might be to choose to be going through there at that time, put myself in that mess on purpose. I have experienced an eclipse before, at least once, maybe twice. It was kind of weird and interesting (the insects being fooled - I remember!) but not life-changing.

    I asked one astro-aquaintance of mine and he said that the real problem will be leaving the area, not arriving. People will arrive at different times but leave all at once. He suggested a big box parking lot, hours in advance. That won't work for me - there would be no such places on the route I would take, and frankly this would be part of an 11h drive so I wouldn't want to get there hours in advance anyway.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Santa Cruz CA
    Quote Originally Posted by cspan37421 View Post
    Any notions of what it might be like on/near an interstate highway going through the path of totality in a rural area?

    I need to travel that way anyway at some point in the next 2 months; I'm just curious how foolish it might be to choose to be going through there at that time, put myself in that mess on purpose. I have experienced an eclipse before, at least once, maybe twice. It was kind of weird and interesting (the insects being fooled - I remember!) but not life-changing.

    I asked one astro-aquaintance of mine and he said that the real problem will be leaving the area, not arriving. People will arrive at different times but leave all at once. He suggested a big box parking lot, hours in advance. That won't work for me - there would be no such places on the route I would take, and frankly this would be part of an 11h drive so I wouldn't want to get there hours in advance anyway.
    The scene afterwards will be bad as he says. I was trying to get back to Charlotte from Anderson. I waited an hour or two afterwards because I could just hang out at my friends place. Then I hit the road and Waze was shooting me all over the place to get back. What should have taken me about two hours, was more than 4.
    Of course that was because you had all the people from NC driving up I-85 to get home or to their hotels in Greenville/Spartanburg or Charlotte.

    If you are in remote enough area from any large population centers, it might not be as bad.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by BigWayne View Post

    If you are in remote enough area from any large population centers, it might not be as bad.
    My route to Mama Cspan takes me up I-75 through rural Ohio; dead center is between Dayton and Lima, a bit closer to Lima (nearest town is Botkins). Based on the totality map it looks like everywhere on I-75 from Dayton to Toledo is within the path, though those are near the outer edges. But upon reflection, I'm sure there are some big box store parking lots along the way, such as in Dayton, Lima, Findlay, etc. But considering how busy that highway is ... and how many additional people will travel to it to get to the path of totality - oy, it could be a mess.

    Through these rural areas I-75 is likely to be only 2 lanes, with a sunken/depressed median. I wonder if a bunch of vehicles will just pull off on to the shoulder or median (possibly not fully), and how slow/dangerous traffic might be as a result. I suppose one could take an exit and go for awhile on a state route of some sort, but those are going to be one lane probably - and how much additional time would I have to allocate? It's just hard to know. Those who traveled for the last one might have a sense of it.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    we're "warming up" with 12-18 inches of snow thru Saturday night. Meanwhile nearly all the schools in the state are shutting down, too much concern about tourists and traffic jams.

  20. #20
    This post about "lessons from the 2017 eclipse" [w/r/t traffic] on Bogleheads forum has sealed it for me:

    https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/vie...77393#p7477393

    "Some interstates saw traffic slowdowns for as long as 13 hours immediately afterwards, and it wasn't really any better on rural side roads either."

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