On 20/03/2015 09:38, Eskimo Will wrote:

"Eskimo Will" wrote in message
...
Low stratus thins at times to see the solar disc but there is a lot of
reflected glare. Quite hopeless really. Still I have set 1 minute data
logging on my AWS to see if anything happens on that front. Will not
be able to detect small change in light level as cloud thickness is
varying. Will this cloud get thicker due to cloud top cooling I
wonder? Convective cloud disappears in eclipses as the heat is
switched off but not layer cloud, perhaps the reverse? Thick cloud now
:-(


Wow I take it all back. Awesome eclipse!

Annoying amount of cloud about though here in North Yorks and it spit
rain on my telescope at one point. Not enough to retreat indoors.

Went outside and cloud thinned enough to see the sun with naked eye and
I could see the moon biting into it. Then cloud cleared a bit more and
it was too bright to look at directly so viewed the near totality
reflected from the window. Occasionally looking directly when thicker
cloud came across.

Temperature drop of 0.8C measured. From +4.7C at 0848 to +3.8C at 0930.

Curious I saw a smaller drop from a warmer temperature down in the
valley. Thickening cloud interfered with light measurements but the
ratio between first contact and maximum eclipse was about 1/16.

Temperature was 8.8C at 0930 falling to 8.4C minimum at 0955 then
rapidly rising as the sun came out of eclipse and started to burn the
clouds off again 9.5C at 10.15, 9.9 @ 10.21, 10.4 @ 10.30 & 11.9 @1100.
Sun just breaking through the clouds again.

No wind at all here. Birds now somewhat confused with two dawn choruses.
It didn't get all that dark more like an eerie twilight.

I got a couple of half decent shots with a zoom lens of the sun just
before maximum at about 90% obscured. Like a smile in the sky. Clouded
out by 8/8 low stratus after that and only just clearing now.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown