July 21, 2009: Eclipse 2009 Shanghai, China

Rob Hawley

A dense area of moisture moved into the Shanghai area on Wednesday after several days of clear (but crushingly hot and humid) skies. It was raining throughout most of the Shanghai area with some patches of very heavy rain.

We were supposed to see the eclipse on the center line near Hangzhou Wan. On the advice of our meteorologist Jay Anderson we moved to the south of the Hangzhou-Wankuahai Bridge. Since the eclipse began about 8:23 AM we started for the bridge at 4 AM. When we arrived about 6:30 it was quite humid, but the sun was visible through the haze. Unfortunately the increasing sun angle caused the air to heat which in turn caused convection clouds. By First Contact it was lightly raining and the sun was fully obscured.

The air cools as second contact approaches especially near water. Jay was counting on this. About 5 minutes before second contact the rain stopped (mostly) and we could intermittently see the obscured sun through the clouds. As totality began the sky became as dark as at midnight. Darker than any eclipse I have ever seen. Even the 4 minute Libya eclipse was more like full moon brightness.

The sun was visible about 75% of the time during totality as the low cumulus swirled around in the suddenly cooled sky. I did not try to take any pictures instead opting to just watch with binos. The outer corona was obscured, but the inner was visible. I could not make out a lot of detail other than it seemed more intense on the east and west sides of the sun. My view of the sun was also blocked by a water spot that kept forming due to the continuing drizzle and high humidity.

By 3rd contact most of us were quite wet. No one that I saw wanted to hang around until 4th contact. Besides the sun was once again behind the clouds.

So it was a partial success. Had we not moved we might as well have stayed at the hotel.

Several people did take pictures. One shot some video that was particularly good. These will likely be available via links from the Travelquest site once everyone returns. I will post a link when the bulk of material is posted.

Rob Hawley