Why some are planning to leave Ohio to witness April’s total solar eclipse
CANAL FULTON, Ohio (WJW) — For the April 8 solar eclipse, one Stark County community will be among those considered in the path of totality.
The community is inviting visitors to a Towpath to Totality event at St. Helena Heritage Park, which will be held in partnership with Stark Parks.
Cliff Franks is a resident of Canal Fulton and while he would really only have to step out of his home to see the eclipse he, and others from Ohio are planning to travel more than 1,000 miles hoping for a better chance to see it.
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“This will be my third, the first was the total eclipse and we were in Whitehouse, Tennessee, and this past October on my son’s 14th birthday we drove to Albuquerque, 22 hours, and it was a 90% partial eclipse,” said Franks
“Like I said, in 2017 we went down and it was an unforgettable, awe-inspiring moment and from that point forward we knew that we would chase it any time it was in the United States and maybe even get in a plane and see it overseas,” he added.
What he is concerned about is the weather.
“There’s only a 10% chance in my research that you will be able to see it here in the Cleveland area … because of the clouds,” said Franks.
Fox 8 meteorologist Jen Harcher says for nine of the past 15 years, the skies over the area on April 8 have been overcast.
Franks says there is absolutely nothing like seeing a total solar eclipse in person and worries that for most of the visitors coming to Ohio it will be obscured by clouds.
“Most of my family and friends think I’m crazy, but those are people that have never seen it,” said Franks, who owns a drone photography business called “Buckeye Drone,” and will be taking his equipment to photograph the event.
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He believes there is an enormous difference between seeing a full and even a 95% eclipse.
And where he is going in Texas he believes there is a 90% chance of having an open sky for the event.
He will not be alone. Franks will be travelling with other families from Ohio and they will be meeting eclipse fans from other states at their destination in Texas, including a former Wadsworth resident now living in Arizona.
He says once they pitched the idea of travelling to Texas to see the eclipse, everyone in his group was all-in.
“It’s definitely awe-inspiring,” he said. “Its’ a feeling that you can’t explain. It’s just, you know when you are in that moment that you are witnessing something awe-inspiring.”
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