Northern Michigan residents view partial solar eclipse on Monday
NORTHERN MICHIGAN — While cities in the path of totality were packed with people hoping to witness a rare natural phenomena, residents in Northern Michigan were still treated to a partial solar eclipse on Monday with about 86 percent totality.
From East Jordan to Petoskey to Sault Ste. Marie, people donned their special eclipse glasses and glanced up as the moon moved in front of the sun on Monday. The eclipse began at around 2 p.m., with peak obscuration at 3:13 p.m.
At the Petoskey District Library, people gathered in the outdoor labyrinth area to watch together. A limited number of eclipse glasses were available, and Nisa Kesseler, teen librarian and NASA partner eclipse ambassador, provided various eclipse-based activities and scientific facts.
Kesseler said she had been planning the event since last April, and she became a NASA partner eclipse ambassador in November in preparation for the big day.
More: Solar eclipse 2024: 'Eerie' shadows, quiet wildlife in Michigan during total coverage
“This is exciting, especially since the weather is cooperative,” she said. “The forecast was sad, and now the day is here and it’s very happy. We’ve got lots of sunshine.”
A gloomy weather forecast had prompted some concern in the days leading up to the eclipse, but skies across Northern Michigan were sunny on Monday with the occasional cloud. Temperatures also climbed into the 60s and 70s in some places.
More: Northern Michigan eyes the sky: Eclipse photos from across the region
“It was a very good day for viewing the eclipse,” said Eleanor Dhuyvetter, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Gaylord.
During peak obscuration, some people may have noticed a drop in temperature.
“If you see the temperatures around the time of the eclipse, almost all of them will show anywhere from a 2 to even 5 degree dip,” Dhuyvetter said. “Some of them, if you’re in the path of the total eclipse, dropped as much as 7 degrees.”
A small group of about a dozen people gathered to watch the solar eclipse at Raven Hill Discovery Center in East Jordan.
The crowd was smaller than the last eclipse in 2017, when over 140 people attended the event. Founder, CEO and program officer Cheri Leach said area residents were flocking to purchase eclipse glasses on Monday morning at $2 a pair.
At Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, students, faculty and community members watched the eclipse together at a campus event.
Professors Paul Kelso and Matthew Spencer set up displays and telescopes for students to use. The professors and other volunteers also used special lenses and shadow displays to show the eclipse happening in real time.
Dozens of local community members joined the viewing and shared eclipse glasses, many of them homemade.
More: At Luna Pier, in the path of totality, eclipse provides oohs, ahhs and a much-needed boost
Only a small sliver of Michigan — Luna Pier in the southeasternmost corner of Michigan near the Ohio border — was in the path of totality. According to the Detroit Free Press, the small community of just under 1,400 residents may have doubled its population as people crowded in to watch the eclipse on Monday. The hundreds of people at Luna Pier beach cheered as the darkness reached its peak, and the total eclipse could be viewed in the sky with the naked eye.
— Contact Jillian Fellows at jfellows@petoskeynews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Northern Michigan residents view partial solar eclipse on Monday
