Eclipse: I want to see the sky?
August 20, 2017 10:21 AM   Subscribe

At this moment, I'm sitting in the path of totality in Kansas City. But...clouds! Should I stay or should I go?

The original plan was to drive up to St. Joseph or stay in Kansas City, but the weather report isn't looking great, with lots of high clouds in the forecast. Where would you go?

The best conditions look to be out west in Casper, but getting there by tomorrow isn't looking very practical. Does it make sense to head east to Columbia tomorrow? Further east? Is there any point in staying in the Kansas City area with so much of the sky forecast to be cloudy?
posted by zachlipton to Science & Nature (6 answers total)
 
If it's very important to you to see the eclipse, go somewhere else. My family drove hundreds of miles to see the 1972 eclipse in Canada. There were a lot of clouds, and it didn't get that dark. I was a child, but I still remember how disappointed and angry the people around us were, especially the people with really huge telescopes. One poor guy opened his car door and people were screaming at him because of the light.
posted by FencingGal at 2:50 PM on August 20, 2017


FWIW I'm also in Kansas City and am just hoping for the best. The latest forecast still seems to indicate at least some clouds, but I don't think there's anywhere we could get to by tomorrow morning that has a significantly better forecast (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

I'd also consider traffic - we're only driving to the north side of KC but are planning to leave way early just in case last-minute eclipse watchers clog up the roads. Wherever you plan to watch it, I'd plan to get there early.
posted by photo guy at 3:06 PM on August 20, 2017


My family and I are also in KC and hoping for the best. If it were just me, though, and I had a car and a later flight on Monday, I'd think about going south and east, per this map.
posted by unknowncommand at 3:34 PM on August 20, 2017


There's a thing called "eclipse cooling" that may clear the clouds out temporarily while the action is going on.
posted by rhizome at 4:26 PM on August 20, 2017 [1 favorite]




I'm hanging in a campground at Smithville Lake, just to the north of KC, with a bunch of friends/co-workers. We're all from the area, and honestly, it's hard to say what's going to happen tomorrow. Weather here is notoriously hard to predict, and it may be cloudy tomorrow, it may be clear, it may clear off 5 minutes before the eclipse. If it's really important to you, you may be better off heading north west, but...who knows. You can always come hang with us. :-)
posted by jferg at 6:09 PM on August 20, 2017


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