As the solar eclipse draws nearer to Newfoundland, will the clouds wreck your view? | CBC News
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Newfoundland is dead centre on the path of Monday’s solar eclipse, but as is typical for an island in the Atlantic Ocean, weather remains a question mark.
St. John’s is already ruled out, mired by heavy clouds and snow in the capital city and surrounding region. But areas just outside the Avalon Peninsula and across the centre and southern parts of the island may be in luck.
Burgeo — which is marking the event with a celebration on Eclipse Island — remains a question mark, with heavy clouds forecast to linger around the region.
“There’s really no chance for us on the Avalon to see what’s going to happen between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. today,” said CBC meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler. “If it is not super dense cloud cover, we may be able to see the sun a little bit of it through the clouds. But it’s not going to be clear skies, that’s for sure.”
It definitely isn’t going to be the best view of the solar eclipse in the province (far from it). But Terrence Tricco, a computational astrophysicist, says people in St. John’s will still notice something is happening. The CBC’s Darrell Roberts spoke to Tricco at the Geo Centre, where a special “sunblock party” is happening in honour of the eclipse.
Brauweiler said the effects of the eclipse could be noticeable beyond just a period of darkness.
In some cases, temperatures drop suddenly and winds can shift or drop off.
Whatever the weather, Garry Dymond is ready to roll.
The amateur astronomer — and former president of the local Royal Astronomical Society of Canada chapter — was on the road Monday, ready to outrun the clouds in search of a clearer view.
This will be his fifth solar eclipse, an experience that never grows old.
“The totality is a really wonderful experience,” he told CBC Radio’s St. John’s Morning Show.
“It’s hard to describe it. But once you’ve seen one, you want to have more. It’s a rush. You’re standing up and all of a sudden you’re seeing this, in the west, it looks like rain, but it’s the shadow of the moon coming at you like 32,000 kilometres per second and then all of a sudden you’re under darkness. All around you is a beautiful sunset, 360-degree sunset. Goosebumps.”
Dymond said he’s been in cow fields where the cows went into the barn. Chickens returned to their coups. Loons began to call, thinking it was night time.
“It’s just wonderful. It’s an eerie feeling,” he said.
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