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The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

nasaviz.gsfc.nasa.gov

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Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#21

Post by amock »

JPKab wrote: post #8
wyldfire wrote: post #2

I heard from a co-worker who plans to travel to Oregon that some of the hotel rooms in the path of the umbra are sometimes > 2-3k USD for the night(s) prior to the eclipse.

I think Oregon is a bad spot to view it. The weather (yes, even in summer) is too unpredictable and it's too close to populated coastal areas. Wyoming is the way to go, or western Nebraska. Don't expect to get hotels, but camping on a rancher's land is easy, and the arid climate in the summer minimizes chances of cloud cover.

http://eclipsophile.com/total-solar-eclipses/total-solar-ecl... has weather overviews for various locations and it rates eastern Oregon as possibly the best place as far as weather goes. Once you get east of the mountains there's much less water to cause viewing problems.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#22

Post by jasode »

Retric wrote: post #18
jasode wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>, or western Nebraska. I'll be in eastern Nebraska (Omaha) and will drive south on I-80 towards the eclipse path and hopefully pull off to the side and park somewhere. What's hard to plan for is whether too many other Nebraskans will have the exact same idea which means I have to camp out a ridiculous 12 hours before the event to secure a spot -- or give up entirely.

The ideal location is 70 miles wide and 2100 miles long. I don't think viewing space is going to be much of an issue. PS: Sure, the closer to the center the longer the total eclipse lasts. But, you still end up seeing the same thing.

>The ideal location is 70 miles wide

True but I was trying to minimize the distance from Omaha airport since I have to catch a flight 5 hours later. It will be interesting to see how many of the ~500,000 Omaha residents will be on that stretch of I-80!

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#23

Post by dugmartin »

If you want to experience the greatest duration plan a trip to Southern Illinois (more info about duration here: https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/illinois/).

As a bonus a friend of mine's family winery has booked Ozzy to "bark at the moon" during the eclipse: http://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-headlining-moonstock-solar...

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#24

Post by idlewords »

If you've never seen a total eclipse before and you live in the US, make every effort to see this one! It's not something that you can get the feel of by viewing photos or video. Watching the sun get eaten by a black void activates something deep inside the animal brain. Don't settle for a partial eclipse, do what it takes to get in the path of totality.

If you have seen a total eclipse before, then you don't need any convincing.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#25

Post by learc83 »

jasode wrote: post #19
learc83 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just get a hotel outside of the path of totality, get up super early and drive to it?

That's what I'm doing but the wildcard is we don't know what a meaningful amount of "super early" would mean since we don't have recent eclipses in the USA to use as past guides about crowd behavior. It's an unprecedented mega event since the last total eclipse to cross the USA-48 was 1918 when the horse & buggy was still prevalent. I plan to find a spot 6 hours early but my worst fear is that everybody else camped o…

That's true, but the path of totality is 70 miles wide. If you make contingency plans, pick an area that isn't too populated but has multiple roads, my guess is that it will be fine.

>everybody else camped out 12+ hours before I did

Basically every spot is a good spot as long as you can get to it. Gridlock starting the day before is the only problem I can foresee that would keep me from actually getting there.

I'll probably pack the bikes in the insane case that I have to leave my car on the side of the road 20 miles outside of the path of totality or something. But the only way I see that happening is if it turns into something like a hurricane evacuation.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#26

Post by Florin_Andrei »

learc83 wrote: post #13
wyldfire wrote: post #2

I heard from a co-worker who plans to travel to Oregon that some of the hotel rooms in the path of the umbra are sometimes > 2-3k USD for the night(s) prior to the eclipse.

I don't see the point of booking something without knowing the weather unless you don't care about throwing it away and going somewhere else. My initial plan was to book several hotels in different areas, but it seems like every hotel inside the path of totality requires a 2 week notice to cancel (and this was months ago). Since I'm about 1.5 hours from the path of totality in Georgia, my current plan is to drive out…

Book it months in advance, and then the price is normal. That's what I did. I'll be in Salem.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#27

Post by JPKab »

maxxxxx wrote: post #11
JPKab wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Oregon is a bad spot to view it. The weather (yes, even in summer) is too unpredictable and it's too close to populated coastal areas. Wyoming is the way to go, or western Nebraska. Don't expect to get hotels, but camping on a rancher's land is easy, and the arid climate in the summer minimizes chances of cloud cover.

What do you think of Grand Teton? I will in Yellowstone that week. I am not sure if we should go do Grand Teton or Nebraska for the eclipse. Ideally I want to hike somewhere for a few miles to avoid the crowds.

The Grand Tetons/Yellowstone are super packed on normal summer days. Jackson Hole is super expensive on normal summer days.

Probably gonna have a hard time.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#28

Post by nicholas73 »

idlewords wrote: post #24

If you've never seen a total eclipse before and you live in the US, make every effort to see this one! It's not something that you can get the feel of by viewing photos or video. Watching the sun get eaten by a black void activates something deep inside the animal brain. Don't settle for a partial eclipse, do what it takes to get in the path of totality. If you have seen a total eclipse before, then you don't need an…

Is there something special about this total eclipse over others?

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#30

Post by camiller »

jasode wrote: post #22
Retric wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ideal location is 70 miles wide and 2100 miles long. I don't think viewing space is going to be much of an issue. PS: Sure, the closer to the center the longer the total eclipse lasts. But, you still end up seeing the same thing.

> The ideal location is 70 miles wide True but I was trying to minimize the distance from Omaha airport since I have to catch a flight 5 hours later. It will be interesting to see how many of the ~500,000 Omaha residents will be on that stretch of I-80!

from I-80 (in Lincoln) take highway 77 south towards Beatrice. The closer you get to Beatrice the longer the totality. Lincoln will get about 1 min, Beatrice gets 2:35.
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