Get Ready for an Annular Solar Eclipse

(reposting from February)

Addition: Kathleen adds, "Whatever you do don't drive through Dickinson County, Kansas, on your way to the eclipse. I hear they are cracking down on eclipse chasers."

Original posting:

The rarest type of solar eclipse is going to occur in the U.S. in May. It occurs on Sunday, May 20. The path of the eclipse and timing are illustrated below:

click to enlarge

An annular eclipse is just like a total eclipse except it occurs when the moon is farther away from earth than usual. So, instead of a completely dark sun, you get a tiny yellow circle around the dark moon (see below).

We had a full annular eclipse visible from Wichita in 1994. The sky turned a very dark blue and the stars came out. The temperature dropped noticeably. You will have to have welder's glass or a similar suitable viewing device.

I'm presenting this now, so if you'd like to see this rare event, you can make plans to go to the Southwest. Climatologically, the best area would be from New Mexico, west, where rain and thunderstorms are rare in late May. It will be visible from Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park (easy to access from Las Vegas) then northwest to the California-Oregon border.

The band from ABQ to Zion is, statistically, the best area for viewing. Amtrak's Southwest Chief is a great way to get to Flagstaff, Winslow, Kingman, the Grand Canyon, and (don't forget) Winona.

Farther east, it is tornado season on May 20th and thunderstorms might block your view.

Personally, I'm one for two on solar eclipses.

For the Wichita '94 eclipse we dedicated WeatherData's new office in the Farm Credit Bank Building. We had a spectacular day!

Three years earlier, I took our family to the July, '91 total solar eclipse in Hawaii. Being a meteorologist, I did careful research as to the best place to watch (the eclipse would take place at 8am). That was on a boat in the channel between Maui and Hawaii where the totality would be longest. Being on the leeward side of the mountain, statistically, should have given us the best chance of clear skies.

So, the Smith Tribe got up at 4am, got on the boat with the other astronomical adventurers and we watched it get completely dark -- under a rainy overcast!

Everyone on the boat was very disappointed, and some were crying, at the lost opportunity. My family, like everyone else, was very disappointed and grumbling about having been awakened so early to see so little.

As we pulled into the docks, my son, Brandon, said to me, "Well, Dad, I had a good time."

I gratefully replied, "THANK YOU, Brandon!"

He quickly added, "Not!"

There were numerous other fiascos during that family trip. I kept waiting for Harold Ramis to contact us wanting to buy the rights to the story.

My advice: If you take children, make sure you have a second memorably fun thing to do. So, if Mother Nature does not cooperate, expedition will not always be known as The Trip Where Dad Dragged Us to the Middle of Nowhere and We Didn't See Anything!


I'll wrap up this posting with, Take it away Lindsay Buckingham!