IT LIVED UP TO THE HYPE, JUST NOT HERE...

Solar eclipse day came and went with disappointment around much of my viewing area. Debris clouds from morning showers and storms covered the sky resulting in limited vision of the event. Not to be denied, I came across some nice pictures and products from NASA and NOAA worth taking a look at.

Below in this animation you can watch the moons shadow as it travels 3,000 miles across the United States. That's pretty cool.

In this image out of Oregon you can see the massive crowds that gathered across the country to witness the event.

Goofy glasses were essential and all the rage.

Here you can see the moon on the right transiting the sun.

A sweet shot of the suns corona during totality.

This part of the eclipse creates an effect called the diamond ring. Do you see it shining?

This picture shows how dark it turned as the total eclipse peaked, You can see it shining in the sky.

As darkness came temperatures dropped. Below you can see how readings fell from 77 to 68 in Douglas, Wyoming from 10:55am to 11:55am.

This is an amazing view of the umbra (shadow) top center taken from the International Space Station at an altitude of 250 miles.

Here's another view. The dark area in the middle is the umbra or moon's shadow.

Where the weather was good, the total eclipse was a smashing success!

On a related note, those clouds that ruined the eclipse here did do something others before haven't...and that's bring some rain to parts of Iowa that really needed it. As of 8:00pm Monday here's the rainfall estimates. The Cedar Rapids Airport has measured 1.14" of rain today. That is the first time since November 2, 2016 that a 1 inch rain was measured in a calendar day (midnight to midnight).

Now that the cold front responsible for the rain has passed, the rains have ended and the rest of the week looks outstanding. High pressure will bring clearing skies, pleasant days and cool nights. In general the period looks more typical of mid-September than the second half of August. Sounds and looks good! Roll weather...TS