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[email protected] · March 6th 15, 07:30 PM posted to uk.sci.weather

On Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 9:56:35 PM UTC, Joe Egginton wrote:
On 05/03/2015 18:14, wrote:
On Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 5:57:26 PM UTC, wrote:
From our back garden in Bracknell there was a notable hush to any bird song that had been going on...

If you didn't notice the dimming then you may have seen the shadows cast on the ground - through dappled light under the leaves of trees you saw countless shimmering crescent like moons (wrong word I know).

I remember looking out for those but didn't see them. But then I was only 93% but you were (according to this thread) 97% so that must be an effect only seen very close to totality. The light did have a very eerie quality about it though, it didn't seem particulary dark as the eyes of course will accustomise but very gloomy. When I took a photo the flash went off, indicating that light levels were like twilight and far below what would be expected on a sunny August morning.

Col

Here in Wolverhampton, it was like twilight. I noticed the temps go
down. If I remember correctly, before the eclipse it was about 20c, yet
just after the eclipse the temp was down to 15c. the shadows under a
birch tree in my garden were crescent shaped. The birds were singing
like it was evening. I took a photo of the sun, which was in some Ac at
the time of the eclipse. You need a magnifying glass but you can see a
crescent-shaped sun.

In my local paper it said in Birmingham there will be a partial eclipse
of 91%. I cannot see a partial eclipse of 91% in Birmingham when the
total eclipse is about 900 miles away. When in August 1999 we had 93%
partial eclipse when the total eclipse was in Cornwall which is about
200miles away.

I imagine it's due to the distance of the earth from the moon. The nearer the moon is the wider the path of totality and subsequently any other percemtage of totality. The moon must have been further away in Aug 1999 than it will be on March 20th. Remember that we also get annular eclipses, when the moon is centred over the sun but is too far away to cover it completely so there is no totality at all.

Col