(QUICK LINKS: Eclipse-viewing events … NASA’s live stream)
(Eclipse through Patrick Taylor’s telescope at Myrtle Reservoir Park)
9:12 AM: We’re starting our eclipse coverage as more of a weather report. While it’s been sunny here in Upper Fauntleroy at ~300 feet, the fog’s rolling through again. We’re headed to check higher elevations. Updates to come.
9:22 AM: In general – if you’re socked in, head east/south. We’re at 35th/Thistle, and the sky’s blue both to the east (Highland Park/Westwood) and now to the north as we head toward High Point.
Myrtle Reservoir Park (35th/Myrtle; photos added above) is near the highest point in the city, lots of open space, and people are watching.
9:40 AM: Now arriving at High Point Library at 35th/Raymond. Big crowd. If you need a parking space, be prepared to walk a ways.
9:57 AM: The viewing party here is inside and outside. Outside, the view of the sun is on the east side of the library:
Thanks to everybody who offered to share their glasses – we took a quick look and even at partial, it’s amazing! Meantime, inside, the recently upgraded library meeting room has NASA’s live broadcast on the big screen:
The NASA stream includes a feed from the special Gulfstream aircraft that’s flying over the path of upcoming totality in Lincoln City, Oregon (read about it here) – it took off this morning from nearby Boeing Field, and is scheduled to return there around 12:30 pm.
10:04 AM: A lady here in the meeting room just announced to everyone that her daughter in Ocean Shores reports it’s “getting dark” there. In here, the NASA feed is having trouble due to overload.
Meantime, if you’re just going outside to see the near-totality, Lora Swift from the West Seattle Junction Association tells us skies are clear for their viewing party too (Junction Plaza Park, 42nd/Alaska, photo above).
And Jamie Kinney just tweeted the telescope-camera photo above.
10:34 AM: Maximum coverage has come and gone; the sun won’t be fully revealed again for about an hour in our area. More photos: First, eclipse “shadows” on the ground at High Point Library:
Peak-coverage crowd at High Point, with some “wows” and cheers:
At Junction Plaza Park, where Lora (who sent the photos from there) says about 200 people showed up!
Not far away, a few people went up to the roof at West Seattle Christian Church and sent this photo:
(added) At Jack Block Park – here are West Seattle High School teachers Joy Patman and Renee Phelps, eclipse-watching (thanks for the photos!):
Back to the sun and the moon – another photo from Jamie Kinney, taken at the 92 percent peak:
(Added: Here’s a gallery of Jamie’s images.) We will add video later that we rolled during the peak coverage. No, it did not get dark.
ADDED 12:45 PM: More photos – first, perhaps the most-enthusiastic eclipse viewer we saw:
Here’s High Point librarian Nathalie, who worked energetically to keep everyone informed of the eclipse status and what was going on at the library, inside and out:
Unique viewing apparatus included a colander:
Everyone we saw heeded the “don’t look without glasses” warnings:
One other unusual view – two Alki residents sent us this view of a “white rainbow” in the fog during the eclipse, looking across the low tide – this photo is from Lynn Hall:
Another gathering spot – Providence Mount St. Vincent. (Thanks for the texted photo!)
ADDED 5:32 PM: Thanks to Greg Snyder, a West Seattleite who went to Cascade, Idaho, to be in the totality zone, and shared this image:
And thanks to those who are sharing photos in the comment section below!
AND MORE: From Tom Stoner, another view of the “vegetation shadows” that showed the eclipse:
Another totality view – this one from Alki photographer David Hutchinson, who went south to watch, from “south of Baker City, Oregon, at the Weatherby Rest Area along I-84”:
P.S. The next solar eclipse visible in the U.S. will be in April 2024 – but nowhere near here.
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