For two years, Carbondale, IL has been advertising itself as “the eclipse crossroads of America.” Carbondale was in the path of totality for today’s solar eclipse and will be in the path of totality for the next U.S. total solar eclipse in 2024 as well. Hotel rooms have been fully booked in Carbondale for over a year. Today’s weather forecast for Carbondale predicted mostly sunny weather and that’s exactly the kind of weather the city experienced. (Or, in Ted’s weather-speak, the forecast verified.)
This is a picture of the crowd viewing the eclipse from the Southern Illinois University stadium in Carbondale. Ticket prices for stadium seats ranged from $25 to $10,000 for a 20-person suite. There are a lot of media folks filming on the field.
There were only a few clouds in the mostly sunny sky, but guess where one of them was. You can see the eclipsing sun behind the cloud.Note: These pictures were provided by a friend of Kari’s who went to Carbondale to view the eclipse.