8/22/17
By: Bill Kinsland
(Sautee)- The Sautee Weather Station had a very successful data-collection event Monday afternoon before, during and after the Total Solar Eclipse! Data is still being processed and a full report will be available later this week.
The measurement period began at 12 Noon local time with periodic observations made every 15 minutes until 4:30 PM. Altogether, 19 sets of observations were made on each of 3 parameters: temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Also observations about sky cover, cloud types and darkness levels were recorded every 15 minutes. Special measurements were made at the beginning of totality at 2:35 PM and the end of totality at 2:37 PM.
One thing that is immediately apparent from the temperature data is the dramatic drop during the actual eclipse period. Starting at 1:30 PM, when the maximum temperature of 84 degrees occurred, the temperature fell a total of 8 degrees over the next hour-and-a-half , reaching a minimum of 76 degrees at 3 PM…some 25 minutes after totality occurred.
One interesting observation was the rapid onset of total darkness. It apparently surprised numerous dogs in the neighborhood as a huge collective howling from many canines was heard from every direction!
More information will become available as we continue to analyze the data collected Monday.
