In the Path of Totality

Today we got to witness a once in a lifetime event.  I stood in my front yard and watched a total eclipse.  Now, eclipses aren't totally rare.  Total eclipses aren't even that rare.  What is rare is being in the path of totality.  Today, totality only occurred in a 70 mile strip that went across the united states.  Many people in the US only got to see a partial eclipse.  But here, in the St. Louis suburbs, we walked out our front door and watched totality.  Our kids stood on the playground at their school and watched totality.  Well, Audrey and Barrett did.  Fletcher was napping.

 
When the hype started, I must admit that I was a bit skeptical. I remember seeing an annular eclipse when I was in elementary school, and it was a little bit of a let down.  We had to keep our glasses on the whole time, and being in elementary school, I am not sure what I expected.  Nonetheless, it is a great science lesson for the kids; so I humored my husband and all of his excitement.

As the moon started to pass between the earth and sun today, not much changed.  But, as we neared totality, it got eerily dark outside. It was different from the sun setting or when clouds roll in before a storm.  It was as if the earth's rays weren't really reaching our part of the planet at that moment, even through clouds...oh, wait, they weren't.

Which brings me to my next observation.  The temperature did drop temporarily.  Billy had read that it might drop 20 degrees Celsius, which is 68 degrees Fahrenheit.  It didn't drop that much.  There may have been a 20 degree Fahrenheit decrease, but no more than that.

As we neared totality, the crescents in the shadows around our yard were cool and creepy at the same time.  Here are some shots I took in our yard of the shadows from the trees and one of our flag pole.  On the flag pole, it is straight, but you can see the two crescents sticking out of it.

Finally, when totality happened, it was much more amazing than I expected.  When I took my glasses off for that minute and 23 seconds, I was amazed by the beauty of the eclipse.  It looked like something out of a science fiction movie, but it was real.  The ring of light that came around the moon glowed blue, and there was a surprising amount of light stretching around the moon.  As I looked around me, it was much darker than I expected.  But, as soon as the total eclipse passed, the amount of light increased dramatically.  Those first couple of minutes afterwards, I just watched as the ground around me was flooded with light.

In the end, I guess all of the hype was worth it.  I am glad to say that I witnessed totality. It truly was beautiful.