Storm Chasing with the Great American Eclipse

15-22 August 2017

On May 30, 1984, I saw my first eclipse. It was an annular eclipse with eighty percent coverage over St. John’s. I placed a piece of film over the lens of my Kodak 110 camera and took this grainy picture as it approached maximum coverage.

I was mesmerized not only at the sight of the sun almost completely covered by the moon, but at the eerie light it cast over the city. I would see three more eclipses over the next thirty years, but never one that came as close to totality as this one.

The moment I learned of the August 21st eclipse, I knew I had to see it. I researched the possibility of travelling to a major US city in its path but found the cost to be prohibitive. Then I booked a storm chasing tour with Tempest Tours for June and noticed that they also had a solar eclipse tour.

The week-long tour included chasing late season storms, astrophotography, sight-seeing and finished with a viewing of the eclipse. The cost for the entire tour was less than seeing it on my own and had the added bonus of using their expertise to find clear skies.

Sold.

And it was worth every penny. None of my previous eclipse experiences even come close to seeing totality.

You can navigate to each day of the tour on the Table of Contents.

On my previous tour, I wrote a general overview on storm chasing that described the daily routine and other points that are relevant to this tour as well.

All the photos for this tale can be found on my flickr page.

Enjoy

 

🙂