Is it worth going to Niagara Falls, Ontario for April 8 or will it be too cloudy?

[Solarscout]

I have a friend in Niagara Falls but he isn't too confident in clear skies. Instead he is thinking of Texas or Mexico. Would you take the chance to make a booking to Niagara Falls at all?

[Montana]

I was thinking of going there as the cloud chances were 60% chance of cloud, Texas is still 50% chance so not much difference. At least you get to see the falls if it is cloudy

I don't think I can afford the trip now so not going

Alexandra

[thesmiths]

As you go further south, the sun is also higher in the sky (closer to noon local time), which has some advantages. It might also last a bit longer.

[dmaser]

I've read an article concerning the weather predictions at Niagara Falls. It stated that there is an effect from the lakes that clear things out during the day (sometimes). Again, you can also get lake effect snow. I and a few others are booked for Niagara Falls NY. Will most likely head over to the state park to set up or on a grassy field nearby. If you're planning to go, watch the hotel rates. Most have jacked up their prices for this week or have been sold out already.

[MapleRidge]

Hi All...

Early April weather in southern Ontario is notoriously not astro friendly Now, this past April 8th was an awesome day but I can't rely on it repeating.

I am a 3 hr drive form the Falls, but a group of us are planning to do the Texas road trip.

Brian

[DanielBrousseau]

Bad stats here in Sherbrooke Brian, so we plan to do a few hundred km toward west (by car).

The 8th of April week in 2023 was sunny and Texas was bad.

340465205_5685285288244596_1012741429059806148_n.jpg (577.81 KiB) Viewed 4567 times

[MapleRidge]

Hi Daniel and all...

My close group of astro friends have since decided to combine a winter getaway with the eclipse, so have booked a week at a resort in Mazatlan Mexico. The plan to drive to a site in Texas was changed to have spouses involved and be more appealing to them

Brian

[astroshot]

Interesting article here on the potential effects on EL Nino on cloud coverage during the 2024 eclipse:
https://www.space.com/how-el-nino-may-a ... 24-weather
In short, may help improve the odds of seeing it.

[DanielBrousseau]

Good idea Brian but here in Sherbrooke, Quebec, we got 3 min 25 sec. of totality. I can't miss it so we will decide to leave by car 48 hours before....

My shot in Wyoming 2017:

Montage eclipse 2017-couronne.jpg (532.01 KiB) Viewed 3849 times

[thesmiths]

My shot in Wyoming 2017: Montage eclipse 2017-couronne.jpg

Hi Daniel, did you post somewhere how you made your montage? If it's not too difficult, I may try to do something like that (from Texas). I was thinking of using an Askar FMA180 with an APS-C mirrorless camera (very light and simple but good optical quality).

[MapleRidge]

Hi Daniel...

It is great to have the ability to move if your first choice observing site is forecast to have less than ideal conditions.

Best of luck in your quest for clear skies!

Brian

[DanielBrousseau]

Hi thesmiths,

I used my Televue 85 with a 0,8x reducer (f/5,6) and a Canon 60D, on a motorised equatorial mount.

I used Magic Lantern intervalometer to take 12 bracketed pictures at each session. I just press the remote button to start the session every 10 minutes, so I could talk and enjoy the eclipse in Casper, Wyoming.

At the totality I took off the Astrosolar front filter. The best pictures where taken at around 1/5000 sec. but it depend of your setup of course.
With the filter off I took longuer picture (1/5000 to 3 seconds) for the corona.

The composite image was made in Photoshop with the layers......Your equipment look fine for me, need to practice under the sun before.

My last 0ne:

Éclipse 2017 Wyoming.jpg (246.72 KiB) Viewed 3501 times