on to the next one

Picture is from the 2017 total solar eclipse, from western Nebraska. 

The blog and I both survived the switch to WordPress (editor, not host), sort of. No hardware was harmed and no one but the plants heard the swearing. Had to recreate all previous entries so blame any weirdness on the fact that they died and were reanimated. 

So, here we go again. April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse. 

“Where will you be for it?” A question I’ve been getting a lot lately.  I don’t really have a destination. I have a plan a loose plan a vague outline. 
Step 1 – don’t think too hard about it right now, that way madness lies. 
Step 2 – pick up the SUV rental Thursday, April 4. 
Step 3 – check about 12 weather forecasts over 10 states. Several times. 
Step 3.5 – check more apps. 
Step 3.75 – check them all again. 
Step 4- pick a direction. 
Step 5 – drive to someplace the sun will be shining on April 8, noon to 4 PMish. 
That’s it. My plan. 

A favorite website for planning is timeanddate.com. It has all eclipses listed, solar, lunar, partial, all variations, all over the world.  It also has a great interactive map. You can get all the times needed: first contact, totality, everything, as well as percentages of sun obscuration for anywhere. And the best part? Historical cloud cover for any selected location. Not a forecast, but all we have right now. 

A favorite app is Astrospheric (iOS and Google Play; also a website) has great maps for cloud cover forecasts, has an eclipse map and info already set up, and has a dark sky map, showing light pollution levels across the country. Love this app. It got me to absolutely clear skies last October. 

Cloud cover is the deciding factor. Even a light haze might obscure details of the corona. An annular eclipse would shine through, but I want absolutely clear skies for this one. The last trip, the annular, I had four weather apps and the Astrospheric and checked them multiple times a day the whole week before. And that was for a smaller possible target area (New Mexico vs. half the United States) as well as just an annular, not a total. 

The frequency will be much higher this time, I’m sure. 

Texas has the best numbers (49% cloud cover, south Texas) and Maine the worst (76% cloud cover). This is a good thing, as Texas is 4m29s of totality near San Antonio and only 3m25s in Maine. I’m glad the most promising weather and the longest totality overlap. 

Odds are saying Texas, but I’ll be where the clouds aren’t, wherever that will be. 

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