I'm traveling a few hours to see it. I saw the last one and it was spectacular enough to want to see it again.

All the hotels along the route were full by the time I decided to travel. I've got a room about an hour from the path and will travel either north or west to see it, based on weather predictions.

Fortunate to be in the direct path this year, 4 minutes and 21 seconds. of totality. We drove 360 miles in 2017 to watch one half that long.

No, not going to either Ohio or Montreal to see some big rock block the sun for a few minutes.

3 min 46 sec for me. I missed the last one, traveling for work, so I’m excited to catch this one!

It is the season for looking down at the earth rather than up in the sky, for me.

Brother's son lives in Pittsburgh, so we're thinking about staging from there to go north & see the eclipse.

I am envious of all of you! I could do the drive I suppose……but my luck would be that it rains that day! 😂

debra

In NJ, in April, it will be raining. If it is clear, we will still have about 95% of totality. I wonder how many people will lose their vision from watching it all. remember, UV light is INVISIBLE, your retina will get saturated with the invisible UV from the corona of the sun if you look at it.

Make that 90% of totality, checked the map again.

Feh, I never seem to manage to catch any of these fleeting phenomena...or, on the rare occasion I manage to get my timing right, the skies will be obscured by clouds. I think it was some time in the late 80s/early 90s when I managed to actually see an eclipse (which also involved lots of faffing around making a viewing box).

A welding mask works great for viewing eclipses.

Bill, just FYI - only shade 12 or higher for welding helmets. Anything less than 12 risks eye damage.

Some of the newer ones are self darkening and adjust accordingly.

Back in the day, we only had the super dark one my dad had out in the garage. 1960s in Mpls. Near 95% iirc. ;^)

I also remember being a kid and having a viewing box as well. Not sure what year that would have been….

Also, a few years back, I remember making a viewing box once again to view an eclipse (or partial) from my current home.

debra

There is so much science ignorance in this country, I am afraid many people will suffer vision loss. People don't believe that something invisible (UV light in high doses), can permanently damage your retina.

DH hopes to visit his niece in Indiana to see it.

I saw one back in the 1940's. I remember my mother breaking a milk bottle and sooting it up to watch the eclipse. I was mostly interested in just how dark it became and not the eclipse is self.

Our daughter lives in Pittsburgh - we'll spend the weekend with her and drive north, along with bengz6westmd!

Friends of ours are going to Texas to see it. We may have clouds and/or rain, but since we're visiting family, that won't be the end of the world. And totality will still be dark, even if we can't see the sun.

I’ve been fortunate enough to experience two total eclipses. It’s not about what you see when you look at the sun…..it’s not about that at all. It’s how everything all of a sudden becomes blanketed in a weird darkness, how the song birds gather in their trees to raise hell then suddenly become very quiet. It’s how dogs begin to bark, roosters crow. Street lights turn on automatically and people who are driving have to turn their lights on, too……it’s that dark. Windows in homes and businesses begin to glow as the people inside turn their lights on.

It only lasts for a few minutes and then it all starts to reverse. It’s a spine-tingling, goosebump raising, breathtaking experience without taking one look towards the sun.

rhizo_1, for me it's also about the corona. The detail during totality is stunning -- much more than what you see in the typical photograph.

Pretty amazing that the disk of the moon exactly fits to cover the nearly 1 million mile diameter of sun (from 92 millions in space).

Yes, and with the moon having an elliptical orbit that's increasing in size every year, it will mean someday there will be no more total eclipse of the sun.

Most people have no idea how life on earth itself depended on having our moon. Keeps earth stable, but not too sure about its Homo sapiens inhabitants! Divine plan, chaos and coincidence, all true at the same time?

Quite right, 41. Without the moon, you don't have tides which are important to life, but moreso, the Earth's spin-axis could wobble around randomly and even point straight at the sun instead of being mostly held steady at a right angle.

I am
In the path! It will be about 2 minutes here. The library is giving out free glasses…

We're in the path for a total eclipse in Dallas. I couldn't find the exact number of minutes, but it's somewhere between 3 and 4 minutes.

bkay

They are relatively rare events, wonder how many people will be freaked out, we have the word, lunatic for reason.

Totality is profound, a moment to appreciate our small place in the universe. We had a partial eclipse here, lots of crescents through pinholes.

Was not as dramatic here (NYC/NJ Metro), as I thought it would be with 89% coverage. There was some mid to high level cirrus clouds but you could see still see the sun. I have seen it MUCH darker at solar noon with cloud coverage. Totality was either a few hundred miles to the west or the north of the coast. The earthquakes were far more notably here. May not be a big deal out west, but if you have NEVER felt the earth move, it is memory. So in over 6 decades, I have only every felt and heard the earth move 3 times, twice this past Friday and the one the East had centered around DC. The East is old geology, West is young and active.

Im interested in the comments that the changes in surroundings impressed some people more than the eclipse itself. it was partial here but the greenish gray light, the absence of birdsong and the sudden drop in temperature struck me. its what i remember from the last partial eclipse years ago. i felt i understood how earlier peoples believed the world was coming to an end.

We had totality for almost 3 minutes, and it was incredible! The temperature started to drop several minutes before the sun disappeared; while we were sitting in the sun, it no longer warmed our bare arms, but the shadows were still crisp and distinct. The quality of the light was eerie.

During totality, the sky was dark (we saw stars/planets), but the horizon was light - it seemed like a 360° sunrise. We heard crickets chirping and frogs croaking. It was an amazing phenomenon, and Hubby and I were thrilled to get to experience it with our adult kids!

Pretty much perfect day. Drove 80 minutes NW for 24 holes of disc golf with wife, dog and a friend, 3+ minutes of totality, 90 minute drive home with a stop for ice cream. The 360 degree sunset around us was unexpected and the tiniest sliver of the sun made it impossible to look at directly. Corona was larger than I expected and a tiny solar flare was visible (but not to my cell phone camera, lol).

we watched the whole time, got to 93percent. The thermometer showed a 12 - 15 degree drop in temp! Our solar system slowed way down of course, the graphs online showed a huge drop in solar energy available. It was an eerie gray out but very similar to cloud cover. Our birds did not quiet down. Our lab did not bark. Hubby said there's no contrails from the jets. We live along a busy highway and noticed more cars with their headlights on... Enjoyed it!

I made comments in the “what’s happening on Monday 4/8/24”. Forgot to mention that it was very sunny here in Milwaukee with 90% affect. The light was like later afternoon at 2:08. The wind is blowing pretty good and it was chilly.An amazing experience when viewed with the glasses!

debra

2:08 PM in April is like late afternoon in SE WI? Solar noon for you is around 1:00 PM local! Hardly noticeable here, and some birds seem to sing here even in the evening, but not sure of the species.

"the tiniest sliver of the sun made it impossible to look at directly."

Not that I've given this a great deal of thought, but I thought if you were in the region of totality, that during the totality, the whole point was you COULD briefly look at - well, what was left of the sun? Do you mean you were just slightly out of that area?

88% here and not super dramatic. I looked at it through shade 14 welding glass. ANSI certified. Only did it for a few seconds at a time anyhow - what is there to see? The sun reduced to a sliver. Fascinating, but not very profound. No after effects at least! I wonder if there's going to be a class action suit about the plastic glasses sold on Amazon that didn't actually protect peoples' eyes. 😱

"All the lonely people, Where do they all belong? I think Eleanor Rigby needs to be rewritten, "All the stupid people. Where do they all belong?" Apparently, enough people where looking at the sun to cause eye damage. David, you are not supposed to stare at the sun even with a sliver of sun, but I agree, the think the messsaging was confusing. I would think that your eyes are still exposed to UV radiation even from a BLACK sun, uv light is invisible and your eyes would be dilated in the darkness. I always wear glasses that have UV protection as I am out a LOT in the Summer. But the news soures were mostly saying it was OK to be looking during 100% totality. Then, there was a local, alternative reality "news" station I was listening to while driving and the radio host expressed the view that it was all a myth about the potential damage to the eye while viewing an eclipse.

Yes, I could look at the sun during totality but when the sun barely peeked out of the shadow of the moon, one very quick glance was all I could handle then it was back to the free cardboard eclipse glasses from the library. Lucky I didn't buy any plastic ones from Amazon. Who are these people staring at the sun? A few minutes after that and it was back to playing disc golf in the twilight.

R you misunderstood me. I was trying to say 2:08 looked more like 4:30 or 5.