48 replies to this topic

[Now in Denton]

Lets talk about when Fort Worth goes 100% totality in the dark on Monday April 8th 2024 ! Less than seven years from now ! I am a bit surprised our local media has not mentioned this ? From the maps I been seeing most of Fort Worth will be in the dark. Except for the northwest part of our city. Besides Fort Worth. San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas will also go 100% in the dark.    

[Dylan]

There was mention of our 2024 eclipse a couple of weeks ago on one of our local affiliates.

 

Not all of San Antonio and Austin will be in the path of totality. If the maps are accurate, downtown San Antonio will be just outside of the path.

 

https://www.timeandd...p/2024-april-8#

[Doohickie]

Neat.  I hadn't heard that.

[pelligrini]

First I've heard of it too, cool. ! Hope the weather will be nice on this future April day...

[JBB]

I saw a local news mention of the 2024 eclipse in the last week. I just don't remember where.

I've lived here all of my 41 years and I can't recall if we've ever experienced a total solar eclipse. I can remember one in the 80's that was similar coverage to the one on Monday, but never total coverage.

[Now in Denton]

Type any serch engine for 2024 eclipes. Lots of maps showing the path for 2024. 

[Now in Denton]

https://en.wikipedia...f_April_8,_2024

[JBB]

PeopleAreStrange's link above has a lot of information and a good map.

[Austin55]

I suspect hotels, lodges and campsites in the Ozarks are already beginning to fill up with reservations.

[JBB]

I have a friend that's driving to St. Joseph, Missouri to see the totality.

[johnfwd]

What is the percentage of totality in North Texas on this eclipse today?

 

As we all know, April in our area is a bad month for clear skies on any given day.  

[JBB]

75% today. Pretty clear skies.

[Jeriat]

Although we didn't get the full effect, it was a strange experience.

The temperatures were cooler, it was eerily dim to where I didn't even need shades at high noon... 

[johnfwd]

Some interesting photography and the light seemed to be dimmer, but, otherwise, a disappointment.  The experts said about 75% coverage in our area, but I don't think so.

[John T Roberts]

I could really tell that there was some serious dimming to the sun.  First of all, we looked at the eclipse from the start by projecting through a pinhole in a paper plate.  (We also did the cereal box viewer, but the plate method worked the best.)  From my architectural based opinion, I would say that the sun was about 75% covered.  There was also pretty serious dimming.  You noticed it a little bit whn you were out in direct sunlight, but I noticed it in several subtle and indirect ways.  My Transition Lenses in my glasses at the max point were nearly clear, when normally, they are very dark at 1 in the afternoon.  On the interior of our office, normally, the outdoor light coming in through the windows is the dominant light source.  A little after 1, the artificial light in the office was brighter than the light coming in from the windows.  Finally, we did the remodel on our building (the old Levitz Warehouse on Camp Bowie) and shortly before the maximum point of the eclipse, the outdoor lighting on the building turned on.  Shortly after the max, the lights turned off.  They are on a photocell.

[Austin55]

I think it's more interesting to think about than actually experience.

[JBB]

Some interesting photograph and the light seemed to be dimmer, but, otherwise, a disappointment.  The experts said about 75% coverage in our area, but I don't think so.

 

Lol.  This is the funniest thing I've read online in awhile.  You know it's not a meteorological prediction like a cold front or a hurricane, right?  There's a crap ton of astrophysics behind this.  That's how they're able to predict them hundreds of years out or document them hundreds of years in the past.  I don't think they missed the mark on this one.

[John T Roberts]

I don't think they missed the mark, either.  Johnfwd, it is currently brighter inside my office now with all of our windows in shade than it was at 1:09 this afternoon.  Everyone in the office noticed how our interior got brighter between 1 and 2:30 this afternoon.  Also, all of us architects and interior designers in our office agreed that the sun was about 75% covered by the moon.  Granted, we did not physically try to make such a measurement, but I'm betting our eyes are pretty good at judging percentages of objects. 

 

The one thing I regret is that I did not take a photograph of our projected image of the sun with my cell phone along with photographs of our office and our neighbors in the building looking at what we were doing.

[Austin55]

I'm curious how much light was actually blocked. 75% of the surface area was clearly not 75% of the light.

[JBB]

I think a lot of people were expecting something more along the lines of early morning or dusk, but when the sun is higher in the sky like it was during the middle of eclipse, there's less atmosphere, haze, and ground clutter to filter out the sun.

 

I took my daughter out to Founder's Plaza at the airport so that we would have plenty to keep us occupied while we waited (we saw a 787, 747, and two 777's take off in the hour and a half we were there).  I'm a procrastinator, but I was finally able to pick up a pair of glasses from someone selling them on Next Door this morning.  We scored a 2nd pair from an airport rep that was passing them out.  There was a good crowd there that included a lot of photographers with nice equipment and a large contingent of airport security, police officers, and customs officers.  The police had the park shut off for awhile because the parking lot was full.

 

The thing that I noticed was how much less hot the direct sunlight was after around 12:45.  I had a Facebook friend that was on the Oregon coast and she posted some really incredible pictures.

[johnfwd]

Not intending to be lectured on astronomy about.solar eclipses, I was just disappointed because I thought that 75% coverage meant that we would experience some darkness, not just a serious dimming of light.  I guess I was over-expecting.  But, if we're in the path of a total solar eclipse in 2024 (if I'm still around, which I hope to be), there'll be no doubt about it!

[JBB]

I didn't mean to sound like I was lecturing. I think a lot of people confused 75% coverage of the sun for a 75% of dimming of the light.

[pelligrini]

I brought several welder glass filters to the office and was able to take a direct look at it. The thing that I was not expecting was all the crescent shaped points of light in between the shadows of the tree canopies. I was more impressed by that than anything else of the experience.

[Now in Denton]

Not intending to be lectured on astronomy about.solar eclipses, I was just disappointed because I thought that 75% coverage meant that we would experience some darkness, not just a serious dimming of light.  I guess I was over-expecting.  But, if we're in the path of a total solar eclipse in 2024 (if I'm still around, which I hope to be), there'll be no doubt about it!

 

Lord knows I don't know everything. But if we get called out for something we don't know about what is the point in this forum ? You posted some of your interests. My hobbies are architecture, astronomy and tropical fish. I am no expert in any of them. But I can't get enough material reading about those subjects.

 

It is reasonable to expect a more darker 75% eclipse. The way I read about light from a eclipse. Is if you think of the sun as a recessed light and you put a book over it 50% 75% you can block out a lot of light. However think of the sun as more like a hanging light bulb. And put a book over it by even 95%. A lot of light will still shine. I hope this helps. https://eclipse2017....se-shadow-cones

 

Some fun facts. I went outside and I felt it was cooler. However Pet Delkus said the eclipse kept the Fort Worth-Dallas area cool all day by only 3 degrees . Some eclipse can drop temps by 20 degrees. The average duration of yesterdays eclipse was about 2 minutes. Some can last up to 7 minutes. But the Fort Worth 2024 eclipse will last over 4 minutes ! And gets shorter as it heads to Canada. But even in Canada it will last over three minutes. Texas is so lucky almost all the major cities are in the 2024 path. And people from all over the world will be coming. The only other major cities outside Texas will be Indianapolis, Cleveland and Buffalo. Those cities might still be dealing with snow. This sound like a good opportunity for Fort Worth new hotels.    

[renamerusk]

I didn't mean to sound like I was lecturing. I think a lot of people confused 75% coverage of the sun for a 75% of dimming of the light.

 

Yeah, but consider this -  25% of sunlight is highly illuminating; and to add,  it is seriously harmful to one's vision.

[Dylan]

My dad and I were on the beach in Miami Beach for the partial eclipse. Direct sunlight quit feeling hot towards peak eclipse, even before clouds rolled in. Unfortunately, it didn't get nearly as dark as we expected. Clouds later on caused more darkness than the eclipse itself.

After peak eclipse, a bunch of clouds rolled in and we could see the crescent sun "racing" through them.

[Now in Denton]

Six more years from today. And the big celestial show comes to Fort Worth !

[A_Random_Username]

would be neat to have a special meetup viewing event for this. 

[John T Roberts]

Now, the eclipse is 2 weeks away.  Last night, I received a notification of the first computer models for the forecast, which is extremely inaccurate for the period of time.  That forecast was for clouds.

 

Channel 8 now has the day in their 14 day forecast, and they are following the computer models and forecasting clouds.  Pete Delkus did say that from the 14 day until the 6 day forecast for Easter, the forecast completely changed, so it is really early to say it will be cloudy.

 

I'm curious what everyone's plans are for the big event.

[roverone]

This event creates a quandary for me -- being such a special event, there is of course the great desire to share the experience around others.  At the same time, the nature of the event and its once-in-a-lifetime dramatic effects seem like they will feel most extreme and be most memorable if experienced in the most familiar of locations.

 

If I were interested, I could always go to some far-away place and see another total eclipse, and it would be a meaningful and dramatic experience -- but could I ever feel it as much as I would, say, standing in my own yard where I am most familiar with how the sun plays on surfaces every other day of my life?

 

And although I could have vivid memories if I were be in some other place to view a total eclipse, they would always remind me of an event in that other place.

 

If I experience it in the familiarity of a place I am commonly in, I will forever be reminded when I see the ordinary sun in that familiar place what it was like that one time when the it went dark at 1:40:12 PM for 2 minutes and 41 seconds.

 

I have struggled with ways to split the difference -- maybe set up cameras or time lapse cameras and go spend time with other folks; but I think I would not be able to let go of wondering what exactly it was like in my own familiar place.

 

I happen to have a space where the sun playing across the surfaces is something I enjoy watching all the time anyway, how dramatically different it is at different times of the day and year, how the radiance bouncing around changes as the sun moves through the sky, so that has probably sensitized my curiosity more.

 

It will be much less dramatic to experience under a cloudy sky, but dark will still be dark.  When the 8th first came onto the extended forecasts on the weekend, some were showing it as flash flooding with 2.6" of rain -- those have already dramatically improved to some milder (although still cloudy) conditions -- we will hope for the unpredictability of texas weather to work in our favor this time.

 

Lest anyone think it is not a big deal, we have customers closing up shop that day to give families a chance to experience it.  We will not see such a thing again in our lifetime.

 

Here is a link to a highly accurate calculation for a location from Wolfram, the people who make Mathematica:

 

https://www.precisioneclipse.com/en/

 

And then here is a more generalized map locator:

 

http://xjubier.free....gleMapFull.html

[Stadtplan]

roverone, I hear what you're saying.  In one sense it is fun to experience the eclipse with a group of friends or family but it is also nice to experience it in a familiar place.  Too bad it falls on a Monday.

 

Fitting of Holy Week, this is an interesting read about "Crucifixion darkness" for those who take an interest in this subject discussing thoughts about an eclipse versus other causes of darkness.

https://en.wikipedia...fixion_darkness

[John T Roberts]

I arranged to take the day off right at the beginning of 2024.  My friend, Kalleen lives within the triangle of Burleson, Alvarado, and Cleburne.  She has invited several of her friends to come down and spend the day at her place.  She is getting about 45 seconds longer of totality than I will at my house.  I agree with you Roverone about being in a familiar place, but I have been to her house many times.  If I go, I will be with people I know.  However, staying home would be interesting, but if I do, I probably won't be having friends over.

[Dylan]

Due to the cloudy forecast here, I considered taking a day trip to another city with my flight benefits...

Little Rock...
Indianapolis...
Cleveland...
Buffalo...

As of two days ago, all are forecast to have mostly cloudy skies or worse.

If not flying anywhere is my best option, I think I'm taking the TRE to Dallas since the eclipse will be over a minute longer there. I'll probably watch from somewhere south of Trinity Overlook Park along the Trinity River west of downtown.

[Austin55]

This event creates a quandary for me -- being such a special event, there is of course the great desire to share the experience around others.  At the same time, the nature of the event and its once-in-a-lifetime dramatic effects seem like they will feel most extreme and be most memorable if experienced in the most familiar of locations.

 

Roverone, I appreciate your thoughtful words on today's event. Making decisions on these once-in-a-lifetime moments is a challenge. I've had the same thoughts going today. 

I hope that everyone who has made plans, whether they have traveled for miles and camped for days or just stepped out of thier front door, will post this evening on the forum and share thier story.

[Doohickie]

If it's cloudy during the eclipse, can I get a rain check?

[elpingüino]

Yes, redeemable June 30, 2345

[Dylan]

Change of plans for me- I'm staying in Fort Worth watching from Trinity Park near the West 7th bridge.

Looking at the satellite, there's a higher chance of clouds pushing out here than Dallas.

[Stadtplan]

[Stadtplan]

[Stadtplan]

[Doohickie]

That was neat.

[Austin55]

Got the shot I wanted.

[Stadtplan]

Got the shot I wanted.

Amazing!

(So those lights must be on a photocell and not a timeclock.)

[ramjet]

I think I got the "diamond ring" effect.

 

[John T Roberts]

Excellent.  Mine didn't turn out as well.

[ramjet]

I was a bit ambivalent about the eclipse until I went on to the roof of the T&P garage and witnessed it.  I had never experienced a total eclipse.  It was spectacular and unique.  I think it's interesting that the Forum started discussing this way back in 2017.  Time marches on...  

[John T Roberts]

I agree with you, Nitixope.  It was a little other-worldly and a feeling that there is a higher power.  As I had mentioned before I left home, I was about 18 miles south of my house in Johnson County.  Out in the country, it is a little different than in the city.  My experience showed me that the eclipse was everything people had said it would be.  Crickets started chirping before totality and we saw several birds circling for a perch in the trees.  Quite a bit before totality, Kalleen's goat started to bed down, and her chickens went into the coop.  Finally the last interesting thing during totality that I didn't expect was that we saw a couple of bats fly through.  We were very lucky down south.  It was mostly clear during the entire final phases of the eclipse.  I did see both Venus and Jupiter on each side of the corona of the sun.

[John T Roberts]

Here are my photographs.

 

partial by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

jupiter-venus by jtrobert, on Flickr

 

totality by jtrobert, on Flickr

[johnfwd]

All excellent photographs!  Thank you all for posting.  Here's an article from Fort Worth, Inc.

 

https://fortworthinc...2026E7643790G2W