Early Monday morning on August 21, 2017, we woke up to heavy cloud cover. The local news was telling everyone to jump on the train and head East because the skies for eclipse viewing were supposed to be clear there. However, with the eclipse predicted to pass directly over our house, we decided it best to just stay home & just see what the weather did. We were hopeful that the clouds would pass by noon. By 11AM things were looking pretty good. But then, soon after first contact, clearing stopped and a new batch of clouds drifted in. Those clouds quickly thickened. Fortunately, in between really dark, impenetrable cloud cover & a few lighter clouds, the sun was off & on briefly visible up until totality. So I was able to get a few stills as the moon gradually covered the sun. I also shot video; which actually captured more.

However, exactly 3 minutes before totality, the clouds finally won. We never saw the sun again.
Nevertheless, totality was pretty awesome.

We were surrounded by Nature. As totality neared, the grasshoppers stopped chirping, and the cicadas started humming. In the Midwest that usually happens around sunset and lasts for a few hours. This time, only a few seconds. There was a very fast "sunset" to the West. Soon the cicadas stopped, and the crickets began their symphony. We were serenaded by the crickets for a short 90 seconds. The sky had grown dark, and the automatic solar lights on our deck came on. It was just as dark as early night. Still, the quality of the light was somehow different. It's hard to explain, but people who saw it will know what I mean.

Unfortunately, the heavy clouds not only effected the actual event in the sky, but it also dampened the interesting shadows on the ground. No crescents, etc. Nevertheless, the "darkness" that came with the total eclipse was a really cool experience. I'm glad that I had the chance to experience it. Unfortunately, at totality, we couldn't see anything in the sky; except for clouds...

Following totality, the sky also didn't return to normal daytime brightness. Instead, the dark clouds remained dark and dumped buckets of heavy rain. In just minutes, we went from the total Solar Eclipse to emergency water rescues (from flash flooding) happening within a mile of our house. Image what Native Americans (who didn't really understand the Eclipse) would have thought about that.