canada ontario skies solar_eclipse

First in my life experiencing a total solar eclipse, and holy shit that was magical. Unfortunately I didn’t have a zoom lens so this photo hopefully captures more accurately what the real experience is like seeing the sun through eclipse glasses.

A few weeks before the eclipse, I suggested to one of my good friends that we organize a small trip to see the total solar eclipse. That small group ended up becoming 10 or so people, and we struggled for a while coming to a decision on where to go. Initially we were thinking of going to Niagara Falls. It was right under the path of totality, and there were a lot of fun things to do in the area while we waited. Buuuuut eventually we all came to realize that the other six million people living in the GTA were all going to go there as well, so we figured we’d go somewhere else with hopefully fewer people. Spoiler alert: Niagara Falls ended up being completely clouded out for the entire eclipse ! :D !

We settled on travelling to Port Dover, where we could watch the eclipse from the northern shores of Lake Erie. It ended up also being really packed, but we did get to see clear skies!

During the hour or so leading up to totality, it did feel like it got marginally darker outside, but it was more like a washed-out color filter being placed over my eyes rather than it getting actually darker. Utlimately though, it was still really bright outside, and it’s hard to say that it looked much different from a regular day. It wasn’t until the final 3 minutes that the colour of the sky actually changed noticeably.

Unlike the brightness however, it also got significantly colder way earlier into the eclipse. I remember people talking about temperature drops during previous solar eclipses, but I was still not particularly prepared given that we were pretty much just standing outside for a whole hour. I didn’t measure the temperature, but on an otherwise 15-or-so degrees Celsius day, it felt like it hit a solid zero degrees for a good half hour.

It never got completely dark. It did look like there was an extremely fast sunset, but even in the darkest seconds I feel like I remember seeing slivers of golden yellow lining the horizon. It truly was a sight that you would never get to see outside of during a solar eclipse.

Anyways I don’t really know how to end off this post, I just think it was freakin COOL