Heavy eclipse traffic expected today throughout Central Oregon

KGW ^ | 6:23 AM. PDT August 18, 2017

[IYAS9YAS]

I used to go there for football games in high school from McCall, another small town.

Yeah. It's crazy. I'm from Nampa, originally, and my folks are still there. They're not leaving their property that day. They'll get around 97%-98% totality. They said they're good with that. I'm near Albuquerque, NM, and we're getting around 73% coverage, and I'm good with that, too.

[Rio]

http://www.oregonlive.com/eclipse/2017/08/oregon_solar_eclipse_forecast_4.html#incart_river_index

[az_gila]

They were saying that there was a very strong chance of clouds on eclipse day before they left. I found it very amusing. Since they are all Obama lovers one can hope for clouds and maybe a pile up with a semi.

---

Looks good now according to weatherunderground.com

Bend, OR 0% clouds 0% precipitation

Salem, OR 2% cloud cover, 0% precip.

Even the Oregon coast is better than I expected -

Newport, OR 18% cloud cover and 5% chance of precip.

[SkyDancer]

Yeah, what with all that groping and tripping and stuff.

[Blue_Spark]

Nephew works at a gas station in Sandy and they have been pumping like crazy. Have run out of regular a few times already. For those outside of the PNW, this is our driest time of year. May have a marine layer on the Coast Monday, but rest of State looks to be clear. Possible problem in Central Oregon are fires in the Cascades and points east. May be up to 1/4M show up east of the mountains. Nephew ran into six from Australia already. Number from East Coast showing up, guess some want to be the first to see the eclipse. Believe some from Europe and Asia have arrived. Appears hundreds of thousands will be pouring into the Willamette Valley to watch. Bottom line: this is going to be nutz!

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I made a projector today for our 4.5 inch reflector. Tested out today and it worked great. Saw sunspots very clearly. The telescope has a solar cover with a circular hole in it that obscures about 75% of the light.

A Compact, Lightweight Solar Projection Viewer

I simplified the design somewhat by using thin aluminum strip stock from the hardware store and bolted it to the Hoop-La embroidery hoop with 4-40 flat head machine screws. I attached the three legs to the eyepiece with a simple hose clamp.

Unfortunately the Sisters fire really took off today and air quality took a bad nose dive. Wondering if I need to head further east and maybe to Idaho.

[MayflowerMadam]

We’re in the “totally” path here in TN. Yesterday one of the town’s employees said that someone had called from out of state and wanted to rent/reserve a picnic table. He said he and his wife could sleep on top and the kids underneath on the ground.

[BenLurkin]

Oh my!

[Salvation]

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