Merged Solar Eclipse 2017!

[Perpetual Student]

A year and a day to go.

If the eclipse happened tomorrow in Casper, the viewing would be excellent.

If you are in the area a year from now, please join me: Latitude = 42.8667, Longitude = -106.3131

I'm already booked in Jackson. Is there generally much difference in weather (cloud cover)between Casper and Jackson?

 

[Dumb All Over]

I'm already booked in Jackson. Is there generally much difference in weather (cloud cover)between Casper and Jackson?

I think you have made a good choice.

From this website:

The Wyoming Range and Teton Mountains guard the western border of the state, presenting a formidable barrier to the limited amount of Pacific moisture that approaches across the Snake River Plain in Idaho. As the flow through the Plain reaches the Tetons, air is forced to an abrupt rise, converting atmospheric humidity into mountain clouds. According to the satellite measurements in Figure 2, the Tetons add 5 to 10 percent to the average cloudiness compared to amounts measured at lower elevations in Idaho. Beyond the peak of the Tetons, however, the air drops just as abruptly into Jackson Hole, the valley that contains the resort towns of Jackson and Teton Village. As fast as the cloud formed on the way up, it dissipates on the way down (Figure 3), giving the valley a more promising climate than the surrounding peaks.

 

[alfaniner]

I know some people that live in or near St. Louis. I may have to make a visit.

 

[Dumb All Over]

Hey, Scrut! alphaniner is coming to visit you!

 

[Ziggurat]

Hindsight being 20/20, if I could relive those few months in 1979, I would tell that choir director to go screw himself. I did not do so then and, instead, had to tell my physics teacher that I had to bow out of the project. I thought it was the right thing to do. (Most choir concert dates, including the one mentioned, were not scheduled until well after the beginning of the semester.)

I have regretted my decision ever since and, as yet, have never witnessed a full eclipse of the sun.

Damn, that sucks. But at that age, and without having seen one, how could you know?

I've been lucky enough to see two of them (my avatar is a pic my brother from the second one, which I saw in Turkey). My parents are semi-retired, and regularly travel to see them.

Additionally, the path goes through the southern portion of Casper College nearest the McMurry Career Studies Center building. I believe this will be my "ground zero". Yes, I will be there that day between the hours of 11 a.m. and noon. And no two-bit choir director will stop me.

I will be there. Will you?

I won't be there, but I am planning on seeing this one. Heading to eastern Oregon. Not the longest totality, but the area has low rainfall averages so chance of cloud cover small. That's my one piece of advice: keep an eye on the weather, and have a backup plan to drive to a more favorable location if clouds get in the way.

 

[Dumb All Over]

My forum friend Faydra is from Oregon. If she doesn't show up in Wyoming, I wish her and you the best of luck, Ziggurat.

That's my one piece of advice: keep an eye on the weather, and have a backup plan to drive to a more favorable location if clouds get in the way.

You've amplified the one weakness in my plan. I rented a covered picnic pavillion from the City of Casper that happens to lie smack dab on the path. I will have roughly a dozen family members with me including small children and a couple of elderly folk. Travelling to another location is pretty much out of the question. I've picked my poison.

"Oh, Flying Spaghetti Monster, hear my prayer...!"

 

[Ziggurat]

My forum friend Faydra is from Oregon. If she doesn't show up in Wyoming, I wish her and you the best of luck, Ziggurat.



You've amplified the one weakness in my plan. I rented a covered picnic pavillion from the City of Casper that happens to lie smack dab on the path. I will have roughly a dozen family members with me including small children and a couple of elderly folk. Travelling to another location is pretty much out of the question. I've picked my poison.

"Oh, Flying Spaghetti Monster, hear my prayer...!"

If you can get everyone in a car, then you can make a backup plan. Even if it involves standing in a parking lot somewhere, or even just pulled over on the side of the road, the point is just to get out from under the clouds if you need to. As long as you can see the sky, everything else about the location is secondary. So just look at this map of where the path of totality will be within a few hours driving, and see how far you can get in either direction. The action starts late afternoon/early evening around Casper, so you'll have plenty of time to relocate on the day of if the weather looks threatening. In fact, highway 26 west and highway 25 east of Casper more or less follow the path of totality for a pretty good stretch.

 

[Dumb All Over]

If you can get everyone in a car, then you can make a backup plan. Even if it involves standing in a parking lot somewhere, or even just pulled over on the side of the road, the point is just to get out from under the clouds if you need to. As long as you can see the sky, everything else about the location is secondary. So just look at this map of where the path of totality will be within a few hours driving, and see how far you can get in either direction. The action starts late afternoon/early evening around Casper, so you'll have plenty of time to relocate on the day of if the weather looks threatening. In fact, highway 26 west and highway 25 east of Casper more or less follow the path of totality for a pretty good stretch.

Point of order- in Casper it begins a little before 10:30 a.m. and totality is around 11:45. But you are right, I need a backup plan. I have a full year to come up with one. I'm seeing half the family this weekend, so it will be taken under advisement with them.

 

[Perpetual Student]

Point of order- in Casper it begins a little before 10:30 a.m. and totality is around 11:45. But you are right, I need a backup plan. I have a full year to come up with one. I'm seeing half the family this weekend, so it will be taken under advisement with them.

Since I will be in Jackson for a few days at that time, I would be interested in any back up plans that may work if Jackson becomes a problem.

 

[BowlOfRed]

Heading to eastern Oregon. Not the longest totality, but the area has low rainfall averages so chance of cloud cover small.

I have family in western Oregon. I'm thinking about heading up I-5 early in the morning to see if clouds will be present. If so, drive to Madras would be about 2.5 hours if there aren't lots of other folks doing the same thing.

 

[alfaniner]

...have a backup plan to drive to a more favorable location if clouds get in the way.

That's the thing abouit a total solar eclipse. It's the one celestial event* where cloud cover doesn't really matter, as you still get to experience a large part of it.

*Disregarding gamma ray bursts, nearby supernovae, and the like. But then, we'd all be dead anyway.

 

[Dumb All Over]

Since I will be in Jackson for a few days at that time, I would be interested in any back up plans that may work if Jackson becomes a problem.

From the website I linked to you upthread:

From a climatological point of view, the centre line between Riverton and Shoshoni is probably the best location in Wyoming to wait for the eclipse.

That is Highway 26, as Ziggurat has mentioned. Maybe this should be incorporated into Plan B? It doesn't look too far from Casper.

 

[Ziggurat]

Point of order- in Casper it begins a little before 10:30 a.m. and totality is around 11:45.

I see my mistake. I was assuming (incorrectly) that the time listed on the NASA map was local.

But you are right, I need a backup plan. I have a full year to come up with one. I'm seeing half the family this weekend, so it will be taken under advisement with them.

As long as you have transportation for everyone, you can probably even pick an alternate site the day of.

 

[Dumb All Over]

I have family in western Oregon. I'm thinking about heading up I-5 early in the morning to see if clouds will be present. If so, drive to Madras would be about 2.5 hours if there aren't lots of other folks doing the same thing.

This is the chief reason I booked hotel rooms for the night before. Casper is an easy drive from Denver. The whole eclipse experience could be done in one day. But on the morning of, I envision motorway gridlock as half of America tries to drive to the path of totality. I see visions of I-25 as a parking lot. What do the rest of you think? Do you foresee heretofore unknown traffic problems?

 

[Perpetual Student]

This is the chief reason I booked hotel rooms for the night before. Casper is an easy drive from Denver. The whole eclipse experience could be done in one day. But on the morning of, I envision motorway gridlock as half of America tries to drive to the path of totality. I see visions of I-25 as a parking lot. What do the rest of you think? Do you foresee heretofore unknown traffic problems?

Riverton is about a three hour drive from Jackson on Hwy 26. I am also concerned that traffic may be a big factor in getting around to pursue alternative sites.

 

[shriram]

There was an eclipse in the US when I was a child. My parents feared for our eyesight and took us to the movies.

Next US eclipse I was in Australia.

I flew to Mazatlan for the big one, 1991. At the very minute of totality the clouds completed their stretch across the sky, blocking all view of the Sun.
I will see the US eclipse in 2017! I will I will. I will not be defeated.

I had similar experience in 1999. It was in August, so most of the India was under monsoon clouds. We chose to go to Runn of Kutch, as the probability of clouds there was less. The sky was almost cloudless, before and after the eclipse! We could not see the eclipse, but still experienced the drop in ambient light level at totality.

Previous to that I watched total solar eclipse on 24th October 1995. I will never forget the experience.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Looking at the roads in Oregon and Idaho, and reading about how many people might be trying to get into the path of totality, there could be some serious traffic jams.

I am going to be so pissed if a traffic jam or clouds keep me from seeing the eclipse again.

 

[Bob001]

That's the thing abouit a total solar eclipse. It's the one celestial event* where cloud cover doesn't really matter, as you still get to experience a large part of it.....

Who on earth told you that? The unique experience of a total solar eclipse is that you actually watch the moon cover the sun. In the last few seconds you see the diamond ring and Bailey's Beads, as the sun appears to flicker out in the sky. During the eclipse you see solar flares shooting from behind the moon. If clouds block your view, all you experience is relatively sudden darkness (but like deep twilight, not true nighttime), then sudden light again. Eclipse chasers routinely monitor weather and prepare to move to clear(er) skies if they can.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

That's the thing abouit a total solar eclipse. It's the one celestial event* where cloud cover doesn't really matter, as you still get to experience a large part of it.

*Disregarding gamma ray bursts, nearby supernovae, and the like. But then, we'd all be dead anyway.

BS.

I can state without doubt from having experienced it personally, an eclipse under a cloud cover couldn't be more disappointing.

 

[shriram]

BS.

I can state without doubt from having experienced it personally, an eclipse under a cloud cover couldn't be more disappointing.

+1