NASA invited everyone to become a citizen scientist during the solar eclipse and we were up for the challenge! Several Sauls team members took observations and recorded changes to animal behavior, light, shadows, clouds and weather. Leading up to totality our area manager in eastern Tennessee recorded a nine degree drop in temperature, five percent decrease in humidity and a three degree decrease in wind speed!
Total solar eclipses are rare at any particular location because totality exists only along a narrow path on the Earth’s surface traced by the Moon’s shadow. Data from Sauls Seismic’s weather stations spanning from California to Alabama varied depending on percentage of totality:
California weather station data – 62% totality:
Temperature decreased one degree;
Relative humidity dropped 0.5 percent;
Wind speed decreased by 3 mph; and
Wind direction changed from northeast to southwest.
Alabama weather station data – 92.6 % totality:
Temperature decreased five degrees;
Relative humidity dropped 9.2 percent;
Wind speed increased by 1.12 mph;
Wind direction changed from northeast to southwest; and
Barometric pressure decreased 0.04 inHg.
