This post will be updated throughout the day as WPLN reporters observe the eclipse and the crowds gathered to enjoy it. Newest info will be up top.
2:20 p.m.
Everyone’s hitting the exits. Tennessee Highway Patrol encourages drivers to be patient and courteous. Just think about what you just experienced.
Oh, hi afternoon rush hour
pic.twitter.com/0gZpkn2PSd— Kathryn Schulte (@SchulteTDOT)
August 21, 2017
1:45 p.m.
Crickets started chirping, the temperature cooled, an eerie darkness came over Middle Tennessee. And then, for those of us who weren’t under a cloud, we looked up and saw something almost supernatural.
Reginald Davis sees his first eclipse. “It’s beautiful,” he says.
#caycehomes
#solareclipse
pic.twitter.com/TaYrVRFN2e— Meribah Knight (@meribah)
August 21, 2017
The skyline began to light up during the darkness.
Clouds cleared on moments, to see the corona, but it was also beautiful seeing the skyline
pic.twitter.com/t6waTACIPT— Natasha Senjanovic (@nsenjanovic)
August 21, 2017
Some came to tears during the couple of minutes of totality, looking heavenward without eye protection. Emily was with first-graders in Lebanon.
Lots of cheers when the sun got completely covered. And we saw shadow snakes on a white sheet just before and after. So cool.— Emily Siner (@SinerSays)
August 21, 2017
And then the sun returned.
Sun’s coming out again. Great rejoicing.
#eclipse2017
@NPR
pic.twitter.com/FBZhbdx8X4— Chas Sisk (@chassisk)
August 21, 2017
Send us your reflections. Tweet us at @WPLN.
1:00 p.m.
Visitors at the Nashville Zoo are keeping their eyes and ears on the animals to see what they do during totality. WPLN’s Jason Moon Wilkins is watching with the crowds, but mostly listening, because you know, we’re in radio.
Is it
#Eclipse2017 or the heat? Like humans, Flamingoes huddling for shade
@NashvilleZoo
pic.twitter.com/qJh4RyLGf7— Jason Moon Wilkins (@jasonmoontn)
August 21, 2017
Austin Peay State University is also
documenting the effects on livestock and crickets.
12:45 p.m.
The sky may have a few more clouds than diehard eclipse chasers would like, but most spots in the path of totality have a pretty clear view. WPLN’s Meribah Knight is at the James Cayce homes enjoying the event.
While there was no formal viewing party, families are looking skyward together.
This father daughter are ready for the eclipse!
#caycehomes
#solareclipse
pic.twitter.com/v2xihYu9WL— Meribah Knight (@meribah)
August 21, 2017
12:20 p.m.
There’s now a reason to stare at the sun as the eclipse begins in Middle Tennessee. It will still be more than an hour until totality. But a sliver of the moon is now visible in the shadow of the sun.
The transit of the moon has started in Nashville.
#eclipse2017
@NPR
pic.twitter.com/RRuj3ql27x— Chas Sisk (@chassisk)
August 21, 2017
As totality nears, clouds are also building in the region.
We have hit our convective temperature of 92°, so we expect some of these cumulus clouds to pop up. Good luck playing the eclipse lottery.— NashSevereWx (@NashSevereWx)
August 21, 2017
12:15 p.m.
Meet the couple that got married this morning.
Katie and Dan met at Starbucks, engaged in May. They say they always intended to marry on
#Eclipse2017 Day b/c they’re “both nerds.”
pic.twitter.com/Y6oKQizKJC— Chas Sisk (@chassisk)
August 21, 2017
Nashville musicians Katie Iaeger and Dan Carroll married at the Adventure Science Center.
12:00 p.m.
With the partial eclipse about to begin, Mayor Megan Barry addressed the throngs gathering at the Sounds stadium. And she had come up with a pretty good line for the day.
Mayor Barry reminds we’re largest city in totality path: “Once again Nashville is at the center of the universe!”
pic.twitter.com/39y5SrJbmV— Natasha Senjanovic (@nsenjanovic)
August 21, 2017
Nashville is the largest city in the path, but one of the best viewing locations in the country is just a bit up the road in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Apparently,
traffic crawling in some spots.
11:40 a.m.
Perhaps the time is appropriate to remind everyone how to watch the eclipse. Maybe you’re just realizing you don’t have glasses. Or yours were recalled,
like so many were. NPR put together this video explaining five ways to view the eclipse. You may even still have time to make a pinhole projection system.
11:20 a.m.
From WPLN’s Emily Siner:
This is not a typical Monday for Tammy Boothe’s first grade class at Carroll Oakland School. The schedule is filled with eclipse-themed activities, like making glittery “moon rocks” and acting out the sun, moon and earth.
Boothe — or “Miss Tammy,” as the kids call her — was in charge of helping the other first grade teachers figure out how to make the eclipse an accessible teaching experience.
“I just like anything we can get our hands in and create and make things, anything that makes learning fun,” she says. “I hope that it’s not over their heads, because a lot of things that you find get very technical. So I hope that it’s been put on their level.”
She’s already taught a week of special lessons leading up to this: They learned about what the moon looks like, what astronauts do, how the celestial objects rotate around each other. This might pique their interest in science from an early age, Booth says.
“Their vocabulary already is astounding to me. They know ‘orbit,’ they know ‘rotation,’ they know ‘lunar’ and ‘solar’ and what ‘eclipse’ means. I don’t know that I’ve had many years that have had such knowledge.”
Today’s eclipse lesson for the first graders of Carroll Oakland School in Lebanon. They’ll see 2 minutes 38 seconds of the total eclipse
pic.twitter.com/yC0U9WOo8w— Emily Siner (@SinerSays)
August 21, 2017
11:00 a.m.
Traffic may finally be picking up. We’re getting some of the first signs of eclipse-related congestion. A TDOT spokesperson says I-65 is creeping up from Spring Hill.
No incident on I-65 in Spring Hill area, just heavy volume heading north. Avg speed about 20 mph
pic.twitter.com/nb2hjgNL2E— Kathryn Schulte (@SchulteTDOT)
August 21, 2017
10:00 a.m.
Here’s a taste of what they’ll be hearing blaring from the rooftop of Third Man Records. Tony says this is the sound that’s been going for the last half hour or so. Apparently, it will change as the eclipse passes.
On assignment
@thirdmanrecords, where the
#WeatherWarlock will be making atmospheric
#eclipse music.
pic.twitter.com/AXPUFQ0C9E— Tony Gonzalez (@TGonzalez)
August 21, 2017
Here’s the plan,
according to a post from Third Man:
The instrument is a large analog synthesizer which is controlled completely by the weather and employs rain, wind, temperature, moon and lightning to affect an E major drone chord with special sonic events occurring at sunrise and sunset. Quintron predicts the effects of the totality of the eclipse on the Weather Warlock’s sensors will produce a very dramatic effect indeed.
Of course, given the throwback sensibilities at the record pressing plant, mics will be rolling and recording directly to acetate for future release.
9:00 a.m.
Concern about a crazy pre-eclipse rush hour proved fairly unfounded. Hard to tell whether it was because so many schools and businesses called off work for the day, but it was probably a lighter commute than most Mondays around Nashville.
hmmmmm
pic.twitter.com/7xmzvzOfMc— Tony Gonzalez (@TGonzalez)
August 21, 2017
The Tennessee Department of Transportation is still warning drivers
not to stop on the interstates during the eclipse. And the recommendation is be patient afterward as visitors make their way home. TDOT estimates Tennessee is the closest place for an estimated 55 million people to see the eclipse.
WPLN’s Tony Gonzalez talked to two New Yorkers who made the long drive.
Photographer Ryan John Lee hauled down a camper van and said he’ll be going a bit farther to watch from Spring City (home of TVA’s Watts Bar nuclear plant), a couple hours southeast of Nashville and in the line of totality.
“Someone on the rest stop on the way down give us a hot tip on a spot,” Lee says. “We didn’t really want to be in Nashville proper for it. It seemed like it was going to be crowded. We hit some traffic, and were like, if this is any kind of like harbinger for what it’s going to be like…we don’t want to be anywhere near that.”
Some eclipse tourists have the fortune of staying with local family members. That’s the case for Larisa Honey, of New York, who says her Nashville sister got her excited back when few people in New York knew what was coming.
“There wasn’t a lot of talk about it. Really only the last couple of days, and people are panicked, trying to get glasses at the last minute. But when we did go to get the tickets — the airline tickets — a lot of them are sold out,” she says.
Even after the eclipse,
it will be difficult to confirm how many came to see it, considering visitors will be scattered among backyard parties and more organized events. Tourism officials estimate 50,000 out-of-towners will spend $15-$20 million while they’re here.
8:00 a.m.
The skies seem to be doing their part to make sure we can all see the total solar eclipse as it cuts a diagonal band of darkness across Middle Tennessee today.
Few clouds hanging around southern Missouri but this looks pretty good so far. Less than 1/3 cloud cover expected by
#Eclipse time.
pic.twitter.com/DrXq2r3ELI— NashSevereWx (@NashSevereWx)
August 21, 2017
WPLN reporters will be taking in the spectacle from several points, including the big viewing party at the Adventure Science Center, where Chas Sisk will be reporting live during totality for special coverage by
Here & Now. Tune in to 90.3 WPLN or to the live stream at the top of this page from noon to 2 p.m.
The Adventure Science Center, one of half a dozen spots providing live coverage, expects 10,000 people or more. No ticket is required for the outdoor events. Special exhibits inside are already sold out. They’re planning live music and games
. Scientists will be on hand to explain the phenomenon. Organizers say they’ve spent three years preparing for this once-in-a-lifetime event.
Getting set up for Eclipse Day remote at Adventure Science Center, Nashville.
pic.twitter.com/fLBYaF4sl3— Chas Sisk (@chassisk)
August 21, 2017
Nashville’s official gathering is at First Tennessee Park, where WPLN’s Natasha Senjanovic reports the lead-in to the event will feature orchestral accompaniment.
Members of the Nashville Symphony will be providing the soundtrack at the city’s
official viewing party at the Sounds stadium. The event — named the Music City Total Eclipse of the Park — sold out all 8,000 tickets. It’s being hosted by Mayor Megan Barry, who’ll be joined by NASA speakers. As well a members of the Adventure Science Center, who’ll be offering educational activities on the baseball diamond. Eclipse viewers will be shuffled out shortly after the celestial event ends, as the stadium prepares to host a game against the Iowa Cubs a couple of hours later.
The Frist Center is hosting a free watch party in its courtyard and so is the Nashville Public Library, which will also have some eclipse glasses to hand out on a first-come, first-served basis. MTSU has invited visitors on its campus, where there is no charge. Austin Peay has opened its football stadium and is charging $5 a seat, which includes eclipse glasses.
Middle Tennessee artists are also getting in on today’s eclipse. WPLN’s Tony Gonzalez says there are some plans for making art during the event.
Just as the eclipse begins, there will be outdoor Native Indian dance taking place at Plaza Mariachi in South Nashville. Meanwhile, near downtown, Jack’s White Third Man Records is hosting an experimental musician who will be composing live music. The twist is that his special instrument is actually controlled by the atmospheric conditions — so no one is quite sure how that will sound. Among the other creative eclipse endeavors: The local Alias Chamber Ensemble has a composition ready to play that was commissioned as part of Warby Parker’s viewing event.
Tony will be spending the day at Third Man Records. Listen for his story Tuesday morning.
WPLN’s Meribah Knight will be enjoying the eclipse with a family in the James Cayce homes of East Nashville, where she’s spent much of the summer reporting on a larger project.
Emily Siner is in Wilson County where schools are open today. Here’s what she said on
Morning Edition.
“I’m hanging out with a first grade class in Lebanon. And the eclipse is basically taking the whole day. They’ll start by acting out the alignment of the sun, moon and earth. Then they’ll have craft projects. Then the entire school will head outside to watch the eclipse, which will last about 2 minutes and 40 seconds here. And they’ll finish their viewing by writing about the experience. Oh, and they’ll moon pies for snacks.”
Most schools in Middle Tennessee are off today.
In fact, school districts in Rutherford and Maury counties made a last-minute decision to close, citing the fact that so many teachers were requesting personal days. Metro Nashville went back and forth on holding classes but in the end decided not to.
Not a cloud in the sky above Carroll Oakland School, where I’ll be watching the eclipse today with a class of first-graders
pic.twitter.com/o1BV0THZbr— Emily Siner (@SinerSays)
August 21, 2017
And finally, Jason Moon Wilkins will be hanging out at the Nashville Zoo, where
everyone’s wondering how the animals will react to midday darkness.
And I’m holding down the fort at WPLN world headquarters in Metro Center. I’ll be on the air providing live coverage throughout the eclipse. But it’s a rare day where the newsroom is focused on one story, and it should be a fun one unless chaos breaks out on the highways.
More on that later.