Missed Eclipse

Too Many Clouds!

The remote arctic annular solar eclipse totality path of June 10 passed near the North Pole and into northern Canada. The only viewing possibility at my Virginia location was a partial eclipse for a short time near dawn. Unfortunately, clouds hid the Sun. This satellite view shows cloudy conditions in the eastern US at about 6:36 am EDT. The red dot marks my location. Notice some clear sky along the New Jersey shore and parts of Delaware and Maryland. Viewers there took some nice pictures of a rising crescent Sun. In my corner of Virginia, however, no luck.

Clouds were unlikely to clear, so I left for a bike ride at about 5:40 am. Not far from home, while passing a field at 5:56 am, a temporary gap opened in the clouds to reveal the following scene.

The cloud gap lasted only a few minutes. Afterward, clouds completely blocked the Sun until hours after the eclipse ended.