Total Solar Eclipse Darkens America's Heartland

There will be a solar eclipse this summer but you'll have to go to India or China or take a very expensive cruise in order to see much of it...What is a solar eclipse lover to do?

Mark your calendars!
The moon will block the sun's light across the heartland of the United States causing one of the most spectacular Solar Eclipses of our lifetimes.
(I definately need more hype!!!!!!!)

On August 21, 2017 a total solar eclipse that will make landfall just south of Portland, OR about 7:05 AM PDT. Then the moon will blot out the sun across Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Tennessee, a bit of Georgia and the Carolinas before moving over the Atlantic at about 2:10 PM EDT

This is sure to be a grand event and, Class of 2010 (Bedminster 8th Grade),  just weeks after your college graduation... What a great college graduation present -- a trip to the eclipse.

(The next  lunar eclipse visible to us will be December 21, 2010 but we'll cover lunar eclipses another time.)

Here are some basic eclipse vocabulary words:
SAFETY PRECAUTION:  DO NOY LOOK AT THE SUN EVEN DURING AN ECLIPSE!  YOU CAN BURN UP YOUR RETINA IN A MATTER OF SECONDS!

total eclipse - the new moon is in a direct line with the sun and blocks the sun's light completely

annular eclipse - the new moon is in a direct line with the sun but only blocks part of the sun's light (Who can make a model that shows why this happens?) leaving a dangerously bright ring of sunlight around the disc of the moon.

hybrid eclipse - a little bit of the total and a little bit of annular over the period of the eclipse

partial eclipse - only part of the sun light will be blocked. The sun will look like a cookie with a bite out of it.

Optional: Check wikipedia for more details, a tutorial with good illustrations from Mr. Eclipse or NASA 

Definately view this animation that shows how the shadow of the moon crosses the earth.

The next solar eclipse to darken the continental USA will be April 8, 2024.  That Eclipse makes landfall in the southwest of Mexico and crosses the continent heading toward the north east.  The path of these two shadows makes an X in the heartland of the USA in southern IL and western KT.

The towns of Metropolis, IL (Isn't that where superman is from?)  and Paducah, KT, will be in the path of both the 2017 and the 2024 eclipses.  Looks like a cool place on Google Earth.  Paducah is known as the Atomic City and the Quilt Capital of the world. The Ohio and Tennasee rivers meet there and so should we!   Reunion for the eclipse!  Would that be cool or what?

Or maybe we should buy land in the area and prepare to rent space to millions of gawkers who want to see the events of their lifetime.  We could be rich!

OK so this post ended up being for long term planners and since the world will be wiped out in 2012 "why make plans?".   (I'll have to wirte a post about the 2012 nonsence.)

Assignment: The next Solar eclipse after these two that will cross the USA will be August 12, 2045. What states will it cross? And yes, I'll expect you to know the vocabulary words for a quiz.

be good,
Mr Hazen

Farmer's Almanac

Included in a blogpost commenting about the unusual June weather here in the New York metropolitan area and global climate change in general was a link to the Farmer's Almanac long-range weather forcast
which is quoted below. The prediction covers the "Atlantic corridor" from Richmond to Boston.

Detailed Forecast for the Next Two Months

June 2009 Avg. Temperature: 73° (2° above avg.) Precipitation: 2" (1.5" below avg.) Jun. 1-4: Showers north; sunny, hot south Jun. 5-8: Scattered showers, seasonable Jun. 9-11: Sunny, comfortable Jun. 12-15: Scattered t-storms, hot Jun. 16-22: Sunny, warm Jun. 23-27: T-storms, hot, then cooler Jun. 28-30: Sunny

July 2009 Avg. Temperature: 74° (2° below avg.) Precipitation: 3" (1" below avg.) Jul. 1-6: T-storms, cool Jul. 7-12: Sunny, very warm Jul. 13-19: Showers, warm, then cool Jul. 20-22: Scattered t-storms, hot Jul. 23-26: Sunny, cool Jul. 27-31: T-storms, cool

Temperature and Precipitation
November 2008 to October 2009

But according to our friends at NOAA 's National Weather Service as of June 19 we are 5.2 inches of rain above normal and 2 degrees below normal. That's a pretty big miss for the venerable almanac. But in fairness that's only one month so how did they do in the other months? (this is the part where my students would get to work researching, making tables and graphs and analyzing data...)

For May NWS reported precipitation .48 inches above normal, another miss for the almanac.
For April NWS reported precipitation .40 inches above normal, another miss for the almanac.

As the records back farther than 2 months are for sale (and I can't afford them) I can't go back further today (feel free to send a check) but we can keep track from this day forward easily enough.


So don't be shy, set up a little spreadsheet and go to the NWS Climate page and keep track of how the Farmer's Almanac does OR see how well the experts do by checking on the NWS predictions for the next three months.

Have fun!

Mr Hazen