One school district in my area is closing at noon on April 6th due to the eclipse (we're not in the 100% totality area, but close). Have schools in other forumites' vicinities announced closings?
Not to my knowledge. We're pretty close to the path of totality as well. No doubt some parents will pull their children from school to try to go somewhere where they can see it better. I hope for their sake that they've made arrangements for viewing ahead of time, since public places in the path of totality are probably going to be swamped by out-of-state eclipse tourists.
I'm actually planning to visit my parents, who live (barely) in the path of totality. I've got to go there on business anyway, so the prospect of viewing the eclipse will be a bonus.
We're in the path of totality. Local public schools are closed on the day. My campus has gone mandatory remote learning because they are expecting the population of our town to possibly double and no one wants to deal with getting stuck in traffic.
No school closings here in the metro DC area.
Plenty of watch parties around the region--scroll down to see locations:
https://wtop.com/national/2024/04/what-to-know-about-next-weeks-total-solar-eclipse-in-the-us-mexico-and-canada/
I've seen solar eclipse glasses for sale. Public library systems are giving them out while supplies last.
Just what I was thinking. The local Atwood's is selling them 2 for $3. Or you could come by here and get them for free. It's kind of sad to think about how many people are so out of touch with what we're doing here that they're paying for the glasses.
My cousin's live in the path of totality. Their schools will be closed. I'm not really sure the reason (traffic?). There is a rumor that one reason for the closure is so if a kid looks into the sun & hurts their eyes, that the parents can't sue the school.
Quote from: the_geneticist on April 02, 2024, 03:22:46 PMThere is a rumor that one reason for the closure is so if a kid looks into the sun & hurts their eyes, that the parents can't sue the school.
That's absolutely the reason in my area (partial eclipse zone). Schools are either letting out early so parents can supervise their kids, or keeping the kids late so the kids have no opportunity to look at the sun.
Quote from: Liquidambar on April 02, 2024, 08:02:01 PMQuote from: the_geneticist on April 02, 2024, 03:22:46 PMThere is a rumor that one reason for the closure is so if a kid looks into the sun & hurts their eyes, that the parents can't sue the school.
That's absolutely the reason in my area (partial eclipse zone). Schools are either letting out early so parents can supervise their kids, or keeping the kids late so the kids have no opportunity to look at the sun.
Here as well. Also to avoid chaos in the pick-up line at dismissal/eclipse time. Secretly, I think/hope there's an astronomy nerd among the administration.
It is a problem for families who need to find alternative childcare for the day, though.
Quote from: the_geneticist on April 02, 2024, 03:22:46 PMMy cousin's live in the path of totality. Their schools will be closed. I'm not really sure the reason (traffic?). There is a rumor that one reason for the closure is so if a kid looks into the sun & hurts their eyes, that the parents can't sue the school.
The residents of various countries have different ways of explaining why things should or should not be done:
In Italy: La legge.
In Germany: We've always done it that way. [Alternatively: We've never done it that way.]
In the US: Liability.
Our schools are closed. The explanation I heard is that the eclipse is happening right at the end of school when children will be heading home, many unsupervised. So they are saying it is for public health and safety.
I'm in Canada, maybe that's the difference?
We got some glasses and will take the kids out to see it. Seems like a good family thing to do.
No closings here. I'm in partial eclipse territory. Mr. Larimar and I will be among the eclipse travelers heading for the totality path. We made our arrangements months ago. Can't wait!
Quote from: Liquidambar on April 02, 2024, 08:02:01 PMQuote from: the_geneticist on April 02, 2024, 03:22:46 PMThere is a rumor that one reason for the closure is so if a kid looks into the sun & hurts their eyes, that the parents can't sue the school.
That's absolutely the reason in my area (partial eclipse zone). Schools are either letting out early so parents can supervise their kids, or keeping the kids late so the kids have no opportunity to look at the sun.
Because kids don't have necks?
Our schools are staying open, and the teachers are now hitting us up for eclipse glasses. They're flying out the door today. Only a few more days left to get them.
All are closed in previous location and surroundings (around 400,000 people populate the area). Each with the express intent to let kids view without the nightmare of getting them all in and out at what in that area will be around 2:00.
Yeah I think the real issue is transportation, not threat of law suits from eclipse viewing or darkness.
I watched an eclipse without the special glasses when I was in grade school. I regret that decision heartily. I think that younger kids should be supervised during this and walking home from school with your pals is a great opportunity to stare at the eclipse unprotected...
The city of Little Rock has announced that one of their pedestrian bridges across the Arkansas River will be closed during the eclipse. They're afraid it won't be able to handle thousands of people jamming onto it to watch the eclipse from the river. It's only rated to hold about 2,400 people, and they decided it would be easier to close it than to try to keep a count.
The coming week's forecast calls for storms, storms, and more storms. Looks like the weather will probably ruin our once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a total eclipse in our region.
WTOP Radio has travel tips for the DC region ahead of Monday:
https://wtop.com/dc-transit/2024/04/millions-expected-to-hit-the-roads-ahead-of-total-solar-eclipse-wtop-traffics-travel-tips-for-dc-area-residents/ (https://wtop.com/dc-transit/2024/04/millions-expected-to-hit-the-roads-ahead-of-total-solar-eclipse-wtop-traffics-travel-tips-for-dc-area-residents/)
Posted online 4/5/24
Quote from: apl68 on April 04, 2024, 12:34:00 PMThe city of Little Rock has announced that one of their pedestrian bridges across the Arkansas River will be closed during the eclipse. They're afraid it won't be able to handle thousands of people jamming onto it to watch the eclipse from the river. It's only rated to hold about 2,400 people, and they decided it would be easier to close it than to try to keep a count.
Oh, hell, why not auction off the places?
Quote from: dismalist on April 06, 2024, 02:12:49 PMQuote from: apl68 on April 04, 2024, 12:34:00 PMThe city of Little Rock has announced that one of their pedestrian bridges across the Arkansas River will be closed during the eclipse. They're afraid it won't be able to handle thousands of people jamming onto it to watch the eclipse from the river. It's only rated to hold about 2,400 people, and they decided it would be easier to close it than to try to keep a count.
Oh, hell, why not auction off the places?
For the usual reason: liability insurance is too expensive for great ideas.
Quote from: lightning on April 06, 2024, 03:21:43 PMQuote from: dismalist on April 06, 2024, 02:12:49 PMQuote from: apl68 on April 04, 2024, 12:34:00 PMThe city of Little Rock has announced that one of their pedestrian bridges across the Arkansas River will be closed during the eclipse. They're afraid it won't be able to handle thousands of people jamming onto it to watch the eclipse from the river. It's only rated to hold about 2,400 people, and they decided it would be easier to close it than to try to keep a count.
Oh, hell, why not auction off the places?
For the usual reason: liability insurance is too expensive for great ideas.
They could use the funds to do civic improvements. But with Sarah Huckabee as governor, determined to show that government can't fix anything, well...
Very cloudy here. I cancelled my travel plans to get closer to the totality zone after reading all of the warnings and restrictions from the places I had considered visiting.
Here, it is very cloudy and we have a chance of rain if I understand so we probably wont even get a glimpse of the eclipse.
Glad we didnt decide to go to the totality zone given the weather predictions.
We had about 90% of totality. Lots of faculty and students outside. Many had eclipse glasses they would share, so everybody got a pretty good luck. Still amazingly bright outside even with 90% of the sun covered. Although the air temperature was noticeably colder. Pretty neat way to spend an hour this afternoon!
95% coverage in my area. One of my colleagues used a colander to get some neat images, and I made a pinhole camera. HR at my school also handed out eclipse glasses. A neat experience to share with co-workers!
Quote from: secundem_artem on April 08, 2024, 12:25:02 PMWe had about 90% of totality. Lots of faculty and students outside. Many had eclipse glasses they would share, so everybody got a pretty good luck. Still amazingly bright outside even with 90% of the sun covered. Although the air temperature was noticeably colder. Pretty neat way to spend an hour this afternoon!
Same here -- they gave out the glasses on campus, and we passed them around so my whole lab could look. Definitely got much colder, and the robins started singing their evening songs which was pretty cool (though I'm sure confusing for them!).
I have a monitoring app for my solar panels, which graphs every day in 15 min bins, and it looks like there are two sunsets today!
My colleague and I took turns standing outside in front of the library viewing the solar eclipse this afternoon. A patron asked me if he could take a look so he borrowed my pair of glasses.
Peak time was 3:20 pm for the DC region. Later we saw the last of the eclipse as it made its finale. Quite a view!
I'll be keeping my eclipse glasses as a souvenir.
Hope you enjoyed the show this afternoon!
We were in less than 50% of totality, but it was a beautiful day so it was a great view. The astronomy department handed out eclipse glasses & had a really neat telescope with a special filter. The crescent-shaped shadows under the trees were fun since you didn't need anything to look at them.
I brought a colander & got some great pictures.
I'm curious, did anyone see the "colors look different" phenomenon?
Quote from: the_geneticist on April 08, 2024, 03:51:17 PMI'm curious, did anyone see the "colors look different" phenomenon?
I did. It's kind of like wearing sunglasses without actually wearing sunglasses, or looking through a digital camera that has the light filtering/adjustment a bit off.
Since my kid had the day off from school, spouse isn't teaching this semester, and we have conveniently-placed cousins about 3 hours' drive from us, we were able to travel to the totality band (and really lucked out, weather-wise). I remember it also from the 2017 eclipse (when we were outside of the path of totality, but still mostly covered). If it weren't for the weird, slightly eerie color (and the important climate and ecological systems that would be messed up), I'd vote for 85% eclipse coverage all summer for the cooler temps and lower chance of sunburn... ;)
It was really cool! I left the photos of totality to the professionals and serious amateurs, especially since we were nearer the periphery of the totality band and had a relatively short time to appreciate it. The weirdest part to me (besides the big black spot where the sun was supposed to be) was knowing that it was mid-afternoon and being able to see a couple of planets.
I saw it too. We traveled to the totality path and got to see the blue of the sky become less vivid, and the light get strangely dim, and then totality hit and it was amazing! It was a beautiful twilight, and the horizon was gold just like a normal sunset, except the sun was at totality significantly higher in the sky. Afterward as the eclipse was waning, we heard some very chattery birds, as if they were saying to each other, "What just happened?"
We had a beautiful Monday morning at my parents' house. Then the clouds rolled in. There were enough intermittent gaps in the clouds to allow us to see the different phases of the eclipse. My repeated efforts to photograph the phenomenon yielded one or two fairly good shots. At the peak we saw a planet come out but no stars. And we heard tree frogs start sounding off because they thought that dusk had arrived. It would have been interesting to see how chickens and other livestock might have reacted. Unfortunately my brother the hobby farmer didn't live anywhere near the eclipse path, so they didn't have that opportunity.
Here at our library the staff had a major morning surge of people coming to get their eclipse glasses at the last minute. We ended up with fewer than 150 remaining of several thousand pairs that we had received from the State Library to distribute. So our efforts at distributing eclipse glasses were a success, and our supply was just about right.
Unfortunately, the staff tells me that it started raining during the eclipse. The view from our town was a nearly complete washout, so to speak. I guess in terms of our library's efforts to get people ready to view the eclipse you could say that the operation was a success, but the patient died.
We had a 90% eclipse here in the city. I was with a small group at one of the public places, surrounded by large groups of happy people. When the eclipse reached its totality, the sun was a small sliver to the left. As the moon started moving away, the sliver got larger, but shifted to the bottom so that it looked like a section of an orange standing upright. The photos (https://www.fox5ny.com/news/solar-eclipse-2024-peak-times-ny-path-watch-live) at 3:25 and 3:58 are exactly what we saw during the eclipse, color-wise and also shape-wise. We started looking soon after the start, and were able to see the changes. The person behind me kept announcing how much time was left for the totality, and also alerted everyone that the exact moment had arrived. We noticed that the temperature kept dropping to such a degree that some of us put on our coats. It also seemed as though the sun was setting. Altogether a very neat experience!
The person next to me observed that here we were, large groups of people of differnt ethnicites, beliefs, political affiliations, but all these differences just fell by the wayside as we were just one group watching a very rare phenomenon. I'm phrasing it rather badly, but I think the gist of it was that there were no differnces or separations.
Our state parks reportedly had some 200,000 visitors on the day of the eclipse. Traffic problems and other issues proved minimal. Some towns in the darkest paths of the eclipse complained that big events they had planned fizzled because they had fewer visitors than they had been told to expect.
Does anyone know why the horizon would be gold like a normal sunset during totality, even though the sun was clearly elsewhere in the sky? I thought that was curious.