Total Solar Eclipse 20 March 2015

[RayProudfoot]

Living in NW England you do get used to cloudy skies so tomorrow's solar eclipse looks like being a washout here. The 90% eclipse should still be interesting though.

I'm thinking of getting in the car and heading south on the M6. I think the Midlands should be clear. I guess Steve will be most interested in this as Orkney will be 98% eclipsed.

Temperature readings should be interesting.

[mcrossley]

I'll wait for tonight's forecast to see what to do.
Here are the circumstances for Wilmslow.

Edit: actually that link does work unless you are logged in as me!
You need to specify your location first.

[RayProudfoot]

Mark,

I've just seen the BBC forecast and it confirms my worst suspicions that we'll have 100% cloud cover. So at some ungodly hour I'll set off for the south and keep my fingers crossed. Hilton services north of Brum look okay but I may need to go as far south as Frankley (M5).

Typical as yesterday and today have both been clear.

[water01]

You can always come and give me visit, forecast for the Mendips is clear skies http://www.dmjsystems.co.uk/weather/forecast.php

[RayProudfoot]

Thank you David but that's a long way. And the further south you go the less of the sun is eclipsed.

[water01]

No problem I figured it would be. I guess I may see 70-80% from what I can make out.

[steve]

The forecast for here isn't good

[RayProudfoot]

But at least you will have something like a 98% eclipse Steve. It will go quite gloomy. To be expected in March I suppose.

[RayProudfoot]

The Met Office have confused me. Tonight's forecast on the BBC suggested cloud will cover this part of the NW at 09:00 tomorrow. However these two sites suggest it will be reasonably clear...

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/cheadle

http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twofor ... stcode=sk8

And the latest satellite image suggests the cold front is moving south quite quickly.

UK.png

I'll check the satellite image at 6am tomorrow and if it looks bad I'll set off around 7am and depending on cloud cover may not need to go too far south.

[steve]

We actually have a few small breaks in the cloud just now, and the Met Office say there is a small chance of some brighter spells during the eclipse, so fingers crossed...

[jdc]

Unexpected full sunshine here at the moment, so lets hope it stays for another 1.5 hrs.

[gluepack]

Out of interest, having done a quick search online and failing to come up with anything (there is some software called "eclipse" that hogs the search results), is there something that you can incorporate into your website that lists when the next eclipse(s) will occur for your location? Accompanied by more general information would be nice. I have the sun/moon orbit plot from Garth Olson that does effectively show that there will be an eclipse but, of course, there is no notification of the fact.

[water01]

Strangely we have partial thin cloud and we can just see the eclipse through it. It currently is covering about 80-85% of the sun and the sun looks like a moon crescent!!

[mcrossley]

Well, the cloud was thin enough to get a decent view here until some time after maximum - photo's to follow...

[jdc]

Not going to bore you with images, but the temperature drop could be felt, and it was quite dark.