11th August 1999: Eclipse memories

[Weather-history]

Coming up to 20th anniversary of the last total solar eclipse seen from British mainland soil 

From Manchester, we had a fairly good view of the 90% eclipse. The sky at the height of the eclipse was weird with a slate grey around the crescent sun and a purple sky generally. The sky was noticeably darker to the south than to north as you were looking deeper into the shadow of the eclipse. The temperature dropped, an odd breeze got up and there was a strange weak light. Although it was hard to detect because your eyes adapt to slow changes, there was a noticeable drop in light levels. Cumulus clouds that had formed decayed just after the height on the eclipse due to the weakening of convection. It was an interesting experience, I certainly never seen an eclipse of that magnitude.

 

 

BBC News on the partial eclipse

BBC News on the views from Europe and Asia

 

[Weather-history]

Good footage from Sky News  of the drop in light level as total eclipse approaches

 

[Styx]

...20 years ago - crikey - 

It was overcast in Salisbury with some patchy very light rain, but it was dry during the height of the eclipse. Still a profound experience! I was doing telephone marketing at Anglian Home Improvements in Estcourt rd, but no work shift that morning. I was thinking, the Millennium is approaching and here is an Eclipse and at that point in my young life it all felt a bit spiritual, for want of a better word..

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by Styx

[Don]

Incredible to think this was 20 years ago!  I witnessed 97% of the eclipse from Ascot (where I was working at the time) and it was a strange experience.  The temperature dropped markedly within a few minutes with a strange light contrast.  However, annoyingly I was in Cornwall just three days later where they had experienced a total eclipse on the 11th August for two minutes!

Edited August 10, 2019 by Don