> The closer you get to the centerline, the longer totality lasts.
The difference is logarithmic, though. And 90% vs. 100% center is only a matter of a few seconds difference.
The difference between being on the far edge vs. 10% inside is much longer, though.
Re:Weather Planning for Eclipse Day
by acjohnson55 on Monday March 25, 2024 @01:13AM
(#39813016)
I did the same! I convinced my wife that we should put our 2 week old daughter in the car for her first roadtrip, and we made our way very slowly to the Carolinas. We were going to catch it in the mountains, near Boone, NC, but it was cloudy over there, so we frantically made our way into South Carolina. We managed to find clear enough skies just minutes before totality.
Drove from New England to southern Illinois and hiked into a park forest right on the line, directly between the points of greatest eclipse and greatest duration. Definitely the wildest natural phenomena I’ve ever witnessed, it literally took my breath away. Hard to imagine topping it without actually riding a rocket into space.
All I can say is ... if you haven't experienced this in your life, go see it. But you must be in the arc of totality, even 99% isn't going to do it. The closer you get to the centerline, the longer totality lasts.
And it's something else. It gets very dark, very quickly. It gets cold, the stars come out, it feels surreal.
It's awe-inspiring.