While there initially seemed to be the promise of clouds clearing on Monday afternoon, it soon became evident that Pelham's eclipse would be a cloudy one indeed.
For several minutes the sun was visible through light intermittent clouds as the moon slowly ate into the sun, but at about the halfway point of coverage, high clouds moving in from the south obscured the rest of the event, with only the briefest tantalizing glimpses on offer as totality was reached at 3:18 p.m., turning mid-afternoon into night within a matter of 30 seconds.
Residents were out on their decks and in their yards in Fonthill, sporting cardboard eclipse glasses and staring up, hoping against hope for a sudden meteorological miracle.
On his farm in North Pelham, Mayor Marvin Junkin welcomed a virtual soccer team of grandkids, who were impressed by the event despite the sun's vanishing act.
"Although there was cloud cover over most of the town most of the day," Junkin told PelhamToday, "by 3 p.m. it had dissipated enough so that most observers got several peeks of the event, at various stages. The darkness that occurred had the smaller children oohing and aahing, almost as much as the main event."
Junkin added that it was good to see that the massive traffic chaos some predicted did not come to pass. The Region's eclipse-related state of emergency was officially rescinded at 5:45 p.m. Monday.
Make a note in your calendar for the next total solar eclipse to be seen from Niagara—October 26 2144.
