23 replies to this topic

[Cpk133]

Who saw shadow bands during this eclipse?  What was your location and weather conditions? SW Cleveland, Strongsville OH, none on either side of totality.  Conditions (high relatively transparent cirrus clouds).  I was using a white bed sheet draped on grass.  The 2017 eclipse at the Jefferson Davis memorial near Hopkinsville KY, I saw them everywhere under clear sky, just light high haze.  I was a little bit bummed I didn’t see any this time.

[mikepier]

I did not see any in Plattsburgh NY, we had high thin cirrus clouds. I had a white sheet on the ground.

 

I did see them in 2017 in South Carolina.

[ashankar]

We saw them 30 seconds before C2 and for quite a while after C3, I think a minute, here in Bloomington, IN.

[Tinker]

I saw what looked like some shadow bands going through a thin cumulus cloud that was passing in front of the sun in the final minute or so before C2. From just south of Ft. Worth, Texas. Not sure if there was anything visible on the ground, my eyeballs were glued to the sky haha.

[shakafell]

Very strong shadow bands just before totality in Jonesboro AR.

 

No clouds but a lot of contrails in the sky.

[bunyon]

No shadow bands in Greenfield, IN. Bummer. But 4 great minutes with some high cirrus.

[Abbott242]

From Mt. Ida airport in Arkansas, shadow bands were one of the main highlights I remember. This was my first eclipse and I went into it expecting shadow bands to be a difficult to see or photograph, fleeting phenomenon. I was so very wrong. Maybe 15sec before C2, I was focused on the small white sheet I had laid out - when the entire airport apron simply came to life. The asphalt was writing and moving with shadow bands intensely and clearly visible as far as I could see. My group was shocked, I was so transfixed I completely missed the diamond ring and Baily's beads, simply staring at the ground. I wish I had set up a wide field camera...

[Cpk133]

From Mt. Ida airport in Arkansas, shadow bands were one of the main highlights I remember. This was my first eclipse and I went into it expecting shadow bands to be a difficult to see or photograph, fleeting phenomenon. I was so very wrong. Maybe 15sec before C2, I was focused on the small white sheet I had laid out - when the entire airport apron simply came to life. The asphalt was writing and moving with shadow bands intensely and clearly visible as far as I could see. My group was shocked, I was so transfixed I completely missed the diamond ring and Baily's beads, simply staring at the ground. I wish I had set up a wide field camera...

Sounds awesome, you can catch the diamond ring and BBs on 3rd contact.

[Seachange79]

We had light shadow bands at Turkey Bayou in the Shawnee National Forest, Illinois. We had a high cloud park itself over the sun just prior to totality, and it didn't nice until totality was over.
I set a white sheet out, but we saw the bands rippling across the gravel about 30 seconds before I saw them on my sheet. I did have a video camera set to record them, but I doubt it actually caught them. I haven't checked yet.

[Lelandrichardson]

We saw shadow bands before C2 and after C3 pretty clearly in Dennison, IL. They were faint but we were also just looking on gray stamped concrete. I thought it was cool to see the bands oriented differently in C2 vs C3 due to the crescent being oriented differently.

[geovermont]

We were in Hyde Park in northern Vermont and saw no shadow bands despite looking at the appropriate times. We had a white sheet pegged out on a grassy field. Also the side of a house behind us. I have heard from a club-member that shadow bands require an absolutely clear sky to show up, but some of what I see above conflicts with that. At any rate, our sky was not completely cloud-free--we had high, thin cirrostratus clouds in the vicinity of the Sun. We had great views of both partial and total phases, although the high clouds may have cut back on what we were able to see of the outer corona. Quite a spectacular show, but we really loooked for shadow bands and did not manage to catch them.

[shakafell]

Very strong shadow bands just before totality in Jonesboro AR.

 

No clouds but a lot of contrails in the sky.

I just watched my selfie video and in fact we saw shadow bands after totality as well.

[natureboy2024]

Quite sure I did. First eclipse for me and I didn't even know to expect them.

 

Was in Lake Placid, NY at the speed skating oval. There were patchy cirro-stratus clouds with large gaps and clear areas. I believe one of these high cloud patches cleared the sun's eastern edge (~ westerly high alt. winds) not long before 2nd contact so totality occurred mostly in the clear. The specific location may have been a boon to witnessing the shadow bands as there was a large central 'field' area covered in snow, a walkway of light-colored concrete, and buildings (of ~ 2-3 stories) to the west and north with light brown to gray/white facades.

 

I was looking roughly along the expected ~ ground track of the umbra (roughly where the 'points' of the shrinking crescent pointed at the ground. I mostly saw a 'gathering storm' effect to the southwest. Then maybe ~ 20 seconds before totality I saw an intense 'shimmering' effect all across the space I viewed (particularly the field of snow and the building facades). It almost felt like a dim / low-powered stroboscopic effect. Elicited some ooh's and aah's from the crowd at the site.

It was noticeable for at least 5 seconds. It might have gone longer, but I turned my attention to totality (I missed the first diamond ring and beads). Thanks to the patch of open sky, the coronal streamers were ethereal. No picture or video captures the colors, and lacy 3-D detail of what your eyes pick up in person.

When I researched what I saw after the fact, the classic lithograph of the wavy lines on the Sicilian villa captured the 'feel' of what I perceived just before 2nd contact quite well and confirmed that I had experienced them.

 

I watched totality through the 2nd diamond ring and therefore didn't notice any shadow bands post-totality...if they were visible.

[Larry Mc]

Not sure.

We were in Erie, PA, with partly hazy/cloudy skies during totality. We had a white plastic tablecloth spread on the ground and looked for them when the solar eclipse timer app told us to just prior to totality. While I didn't see anything visually, my wife snapped a phone picture. I was going thru her phone shots this evening and realized that she might have got it. (she was standing about 4 feet above the tablecloth on a deck and leaned over the rail to take the photo).

 

 

 

Having never seen Shadow Bands before, (forgot to look for them in 2017), I'm not sure. Is this what they look like? (those are 10" x 3" x 2" bricks holding down the cloth).

What do you all think? Shadow Bands or just the way the plastic cloth was lying on the ground?

 

 

[Alan D. Whitman]

We saw faint long shadow bands moving very fast, shortly before C2 at Lac Megantic, Quebec under clear sky (NO cloud higher than 3 degrees in the west) and superb transparency. The shadow bands were on a snow bank, and it was neat seeing them on a natural surface instead of the white sheet that I've seen them on at three previous totalities. So I have seen shadow bands at only four totalities out of 11. Didn't think to look for them after C3 (actually I was checking my vision at the time because I returned to the eyepiece of my 80mm refractor at the same precise moment as the diamond ring burst out, so had a strong solar after image but no damage because of turning away instantly -- my reaction time is somewhere in the 1/30th of a second range).

 

I was surprised that there were shadow bands before C2 where we were since we were under the blocking upper ridge which would be expected to have steady seeing, and shadow bands are caused by poor seeing. We were east of Appalachian mountains about 3000 feet high which might have caused some turbulence.

 

I forgot to bring a tape recorder to this eclipse so I don't know how many seconds before C2 the shadow bands appeared. There is a lot happening in the last minute before C2 and it is difficult to see it all so not seeing shadow bands at an eclipse doesn't necessarily mean that there were not any. I had assigned one woman who was interested in shadow bands to look down watching for them, but it may have been another woman who called our attention to them. I was busy looking up, watching for the approaching lunar shadow in the atmosphere which was very apparent.

 

Alan Whitman

[retiring] Contributing Editor, Sky&Telescope

[Alan D. Whitman]

Quite sure I did. First eclipse for me and I didn't even know to expect them.

 

Was in Lake Placid, NY at the speed skating oval. There were patchy cirro-stratus clouds with large gaps and clear areas. I believe one of these high cloud patches cleared the sun's eastern edge (~ westerly high alt. winds) not long before 2nd contact so totality occurred mostly in the clear. The specific location may have been a boon to witnessing the shadow bands as there was a large central 'field' area covered in snow, a walkway of light-colored concrete, and buildings (of ~ 2-3 stories) to the west and north with light brown to gray/white facades.

 

I was looking roughly along the expected ~ ground track of the umbra (roughly where the 'points' of the shrinking crescent pointed at the ground. I mostly saw a 'gathering storm' effect to the southwest. Then maybe ~ 20 seconds before totality I saw an intense 'shimmering' effect all across the space I viewed (particularly the field of snow and the building facades). It almost felt like a dim / low-powered stroboscopic effect. Elicited some ooh's and aah's from the crowd at the site.

It was noticeable for at least 5 seconds. It might have gone longer, but I turned my attention to totality (I missed the first diamond ring and beads). Thanks to the patch of open sky, the coronal streamers were ethereal. No picture or video captures the colors, and lacy 3-D detail of what your eyes pick up in person.

When I researched what I saw after the fact, the classic lithograph of the wavy lines on the Sicilian villa captured the 'feel' of what I perceived just before 2nd contact quite well and confirmed that I had experienced them.

 

I watched totality through the 2nd diamond ring and therefore didn't notice any shadow bands post-totality...if they were visible.

That is a very thorough report! Impressive for a first time eclipse watcher!

[geovermont]

Not sure.

We were in Erie, PA, with partly hazy/cloudy skies during totality. We had a white plastic tablecloth spread on the ground and looked for them when the solar eclipse timer app told us to just prior to totality. While I didn't see anything visually, my wife snapped a phone picture. I was going thru her phone shots this evening and realized that she might have got it. (she was standing about 4 feet above the tablecloth on a deck and leaned over the rail to take the photo).

 

Shadow-Bands-314pm-04082024.jpg

 

Shadow-Bands-314pmv2-04082024.jpg

 

Having never seen Shadow Bands before, (forgot to look for them in 2017), I'm not sure. Is this what they look like? (those are 10" x 3" x 2" bricks holding down the cloth).

What do you all think? Shadow Bands or just the way the plastic cloth was lying on the ground?

Well, if they are not shadow bands you might be able to recreate the effect by laying that sheet out under similar conditions and photographing it again.

[isutru]

We did not see them in Murphysboro, Illinois despite looking specifically for them, but did see them in 2017 from the same location.

[Larry Mc]

Well, if they are not shadow bands you might be able to recreate the effect by laying that sheet out under similar conditions and photographing it again.

That would be a great idea. Unfortunately, we tossed the table cloth the next day.  

Think I'll just consider this a tentative sighting. 

Edited by Larry Mc, 16 April 2024 - 06:25 PM.

[Nicole Sharp]

What is a shadow band?

[kfiscus]

Fast-moving, low-contrast ripples that move along the ground, sometimes very quickly.  They are often visible in the deep partial phases before and after totality.  They are strongly influenced by turbulent layers of air.

 

I'm including a link to a YouTube video from a friend that went with me to the 2017 total eclipse in Pawnee City, Nebraska.  Start watching at 15:00 to see the huge, fast shadow bands.  We had very turbulent air from thunderstorms that had come through at the start of the partial eclipse.

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=c66ycj6-O5c

Edited by kfiscus, 16 April 2024 - 09:41 PM.

[DSobserver]

strong shadow band 1' before and after totality from durango MX

[ericjaakkola]

I saw them, and I have them on video but the video compression makes them almost impossible to see unless you're looking for them.

Lac Magnetic, Canada with a frozen lake with snow on top made for ideal shadow band watching.  I didn't even know what they were until I saw them.

I heard someone talking about shadow bands and was wondering what they were referring to.  Then I saw them zooming by and was like, aha!

 

 

Edited by ericjaakkola, 18 April 2024 - 02:26 PM.

[VStwKE]

I set a timer on my phone 20sec post-C3 to look for shadow bands, I'm sure otherwise I would have forgotten to look with all the adrenaline in my blood. Managed to get a short video clip of moving shadow bands in Brady, TX: https://drive.google...?usp=share_link

Edited by VStwKE, 19 April 2024 - 02:38 PM.