2024 Eclipse resources
Just getting to the location of an eclipse is only half the battle. The rest of the trick is the weather; which is often only known 2-3 days before the event. It’s a very good idea to have a changeable fares for air, hotel, and car rentals. For the 2024 eclipse, I needed to switch from Austin, TX to Indiana 2 days before the event. Fortunately I had paid for changeable reservations with became key.
The other part was knowing where to go for accurate data and who to trust. Here’s some of the resources I used:
Eclipse Path Tracking
- NASA map: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/
- Google map – handy while on the road: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Hnwl6iLY8XveFnBixXx9IkY8mys&hl=en_US&ll=39.816101854255024%2C-85.51718244063596&z=13
Weather
The most important part was cloud cover. There was a lot of last minute nail biting and plan changes trying to make your bet on where the clouds would split.
- Pivotal Weather – This was the best of the lot. It let you see a variety of selectable prediction models. It turned out the US conglomerate models predicted tons of clouds over pretty much the whole path, while the Canadian model predicted the clear Midwest skies. It turned out the Canadian model was most accurate at the end of the day. https://www.pivotalweather.com/eclipse2024/
- Ventusky:
Day-of visible live cloud pattern and prediction websites to know where to drive to avoid clouds!
- Best: COD: https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/ Click on left panel’s “View Sub-Regional Sectors” or “View Localized Sectors”, choose the desired area, click on bottom left play button to see animated replay. Works for all North America. Updated every 5 minutes. Past until now.
- NOAA Satellite: https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/index.php Click on a region in the map, then click on the “Animation loops” under “GeoColor” or “Band 1 Blue – Visible”. Blue band shows high clouds, Red band shows low clouds better. Works for all North America (see additional details 2 and 3 below.) Past until now.
- Zoom earth: https://zoom.earth/maps/satellite can zoom in. The “Live” Satellite has playback option, the “HD” Satellite doesn’t. Past until now.
- Weather Radar Live Cloud: https://weather-radar-live.com/cloud-cover-map/ can zoom in. Right panel can choose “Clouds” (with clouds and wind directions) or “Satellite”, in which you can choose “Blue” or “Visible” on bottom left. Use computer if possible, very hard to click on mobile. Past and future.
- Pivotal HRRR (cloud=blue, clear skies=white on Pivotal): https://www.pivotalweather.com/model.php?m=hrrr&p=cloudcover&rh=2024040515&fh=8 read more details in u/blo442’s comment
- NOAA NWS: https://graphical.mdl.nws.noaa.gov/sectors/sectorHour.php?sector=conus&view=public&expand=false#tabs on bottom scroll left to “Sky Cover”, percentage of cloud cover. Future only.
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