Eclipse:

Anupam:

That's the big question, right? And it's a good question. I wish I could estimate for you where we will be going. :(

Unfortunately, you answered your own question when you said it's "dependent on cloud cover". Cloud cover is everything, and we need to wait for the forecast to stabilize. Today, as I write this, is eight days from eclipse day. Cloud forecasts are possible eight days out, and yes, Mark Coppinger and I (and I'm sure some of you reading this) have begun looking at those forecasts, but "possible" is a long way from "reliable" eight days out. We have to be patient.

The weather forecasts for various points along the path of totality should begin to stabilize by the morning of Thursday, April 4. Until then, I have no guess. By Saturday morning, April 6, we should be able to say with some confidence which "third" of the path of totality we will be targeting: Ohio and northeast, Indiana through central Arkansas, or southern Arkansas through Texas. Then Sunday night into Monday morning, we will decide on a destination within about one hundred miles. Mark Coppinger, the leader of our eclipse expedition, has the final word on this. On Monday, April 8, the day of the eclipse, if the cloud forecast has worsened, we might end up driving a few hours in the early morning before eclipse time.

For those of you thinking about your plans after the eclipse, totality is the big show. After totality is over, the partial eclipse phases winding down the eclipse are only minimally interesting. We will probably be on the road again, headed back to Kennesaw less than thirty minutes after the end of totality. Totality ends... we pack up and go (the exact time depends on our actual location). We will either be back in Kennesaw, or stopped somewhere for the night a few hours from Kennesaw, by midnight on Monday. If you have any plans on Tuesday in or near Atlanta, anything after about 1:00pm should be no problem at all.

Frank Reed