Here in NJ it's 2:42 and as close as its going to get to darkness. I just stepped out the back door and it's not cloudy but it looks like a storm is on the way. Except it's not a storm coming, it's the sun being eclipsed. Oh and you can look when it's total they say, but I would not risk it.

We are too far north to be in the "totality zone" so I wasn't planning to see it. Anyway, I went to the post office to pick up mail, and there were the federal workers, out with their special eclipse glasses. They were kind enough to share so I got a peek. I was surprised how light it was in my area even with 90% of the sun blocked.

Yes, pretty cool.

Yes; here in Georgia the shadows were pretty neat....and kinda strange.

Interestingly, the center point (supposedly) on TV was where I went to college; Carbondale Illinois. The sun came out from behind the clouds at midpoint for about the last 10 seconds there; you could hear the crowd cheering when it did.

We had around 85% eclipse in my area. Before the eclipse, it was over cast. It seemed a little darker... as if a big storm was coming. Sounds outside (I live in the country) were muted. As soon as the peak of the eclipse passed, it was sunny!

96% here...but enough light still to where is looked mostly like an overcast day. We did feel it cool off significantly. Amazing how much power just 4% of the sun still has!

We have one pair of glasses for the whole office. It was pretty cool to see! Without glasses it was just a little dimmer day, nothing special for NY.

I wasn't able to get a pair of glasses, so no.

I did watch it on TV and it was exciting and even sort of moving, in an unexpected way. Almost made me wish I had gone up to South Carolina to view the totality.

Saw it. Totality. Very cool. Watched at my daughter's house in Manning, SC. During the 2 minutes of totality you could look without glasses. The shadows were very weird. The air temp dropped considerably (from 98 down to around 85).

Sky was partly cloudy but full view during the most important 2 minutes.

We were around 78% totality. C-SPAN was broadcasting the NASA channel, so we enjoyed watching coverage of more fortunate areas, without the hassle of traffic and travel. I set up the telescope so that it would project onto an index card, which was okay, but the two-index-card pinhole viewer was better. The best, however, was watching the tree leaves turn into a pinhole-viewer-equivalent, with thousands of little crescent shadows.

Very cool.

The kids at the school were all given solar glasses, so DS1 had a great experience.

Last minute, decided to have a family day. Kids had the option to be excused from school.

We had a thunderstorm in the morning and newscasters suggested that east of us there would be more possibility of viewing the eclipse without cloud cover. So we headed east and ended up in Sedalia when the moon began to block the sun. We met up with my brother, Mom and stepdad who live there. It was completely unplanned.

So many people went up to St Joseph and didn't see as much as they would have have hoped. That was our original plan. Just another confirmation to us that God is in control of all of this. It drove me nuts having to scrap our original plans.

But it worked out. It was nothing short of amazing. Humbling experience.

We were able to stay in an empty parking lot at my brother's work. His boss was grilling and invited us for lunch. Interesting, enlightening conversation. Investor of a nursing home that is awaiting opening day.

100% at my house. We took the day off and hosted a pool and eclipse party. Biggest surprise was that the sky was completely clear.

Watching the moon overtake the sun with glasses was very neat. But it's nothing compared to totality!

Sure, I've seen pictures of it. But nothing prepares you for how striking the scene is when the whole sky is in view. A dark black hole with soft light spewing from the edges (the corona). The rest of the sky dim, but not dark like night. More like twilight.

YES!

I am about 40 minutes from the edge of totality, but LL friends of mine have a storage facility in Carbondale, 2 hours away. NASA was filming in SIUC's football bowl a few blocks away.

We hung out in their little office (with A/C and a private bathroom, yay) and I set the timer on my phone for every 5 minutes to pop outside and watch the moon eat the sun.

I even spent $1.99 for an app for my iPad. It grabbed your GPS location, and had verbal updates when you were getting close. (SIX MINUTES TO TOTALITY....10 second countdown, then a horn when totality hit...REMOVE GLASSES NOW.... .....MIDWAY THROUGH TOTALITY........REPLACE GLASSES NOW). It sounds kinda dumb, but was actually extremely helpful because, as another poster mentioned, a huge thunderhead came overhead just before totality (this is why NASA only got 40 seconds). We jumped in the car and managed to outrun the cloud and get into the sun 3 minutes ahead of totality. Got the full 2 minutes +. We also saw the shadow bands which don't always occur, and science is not sure what makes them.

Amazing! My only real regret was my adult son decided to take the day off and didn't let me know ahead of time, I would liked to have shared it with him. And my SO had to work that day, but he was just within totality; he did get to see it, but it was short.

Looks like we get another shot in 7 years. Interestingly, Carbondale is once again in the best spot. April's weather can be hit or miss, though.

Wife and I went to Wyoming,..perfect day,...Got a car In Denver and stated north @ 2am to beat the crowds,...I think we got the last hotel and car in Denver...eclipse there was total,@11:30

Boy its been a long time since I have been in those states,..spent a week camping In Frazer Co,while in college. A tiny town then,..I was blown away how big and busy it is now,..sad for me,..

But the trip ,..besides the eclipse was an adventure,..seeing some strange and beautiful country sides that is very different than we have in Ma.

Anyway I read In our newspaper that a 98% eclipse lets in 10,000x more light than a total eclipse,.I saw that as soon a a sliver of light came back from the end of the eclipse,..it was pretty bright,..more than lets say,... a cloudy day,..

Just got back last night from our trip to Savannah, MO to watch it. Unfortunately, it ended up being cloudy for most of the day. We did not get to see the corona. That being said, we still had a great trip and I was glad we did it. Was awesome to watch it go from light to very dark to light again in just over two minutes. Also got to see the 360-degree "sunrise/sunset" and that alone was worth the trip to a totality area!

Will definitely do it again in 2024! :)

- John...

AllyM: Just so you know, there is a total eclipse somewhere on earth about every 18 months, not every 100 years.

It is rare for one to go coast-to-coast across the USA like this one did, sure. But when talking about "early humans" seeing it, well, that would be happening somewhere every couple of years or so on average. Just so you know.

I agree it must have been very odd for them. It would be very odd even for us today if it happened and we didn't KNOW it was supposed to happen. If someone ignored all of the news and was just out walking in the sun on Monday, it would likely totally freak them out! :) Then imagine an early human having that experience! So, again, I agree, must have been crazy stuff for them!

- John...

Yes ! Saw it ! I had requested the day off just to

see it. I was hanging around our rental doing work outside, so hot, then all the sudden noticed the sun

wasn't burning me, it got that funny twilight dark , hard

to see outside, I kept peeking at it through my solar glasses. It got so dark I couldn't see to find my mail

box key on my key ring. ha ha. Then no sooner was

dark it started to get light again. Weird.

My brother was at our family farm along highway 79 to

Hopkinsville and said people were just pulling into our