BRANCH COUNTY, MI (WTVB) – Mother Nature cooperated with a sunny day on Monday as Branch County residents enjoyed the second solar eclipse in the last seven years.
Unlike the one in August of 2017 which covered 82 percent of the sun, Monday’s was a near total eclipse. The City of Coldwater had a 97.6 percent coverage of the sun by the moon at 3:10 p.m. with higher amounts to the south.
A total eclipse was as close to Branch County as south of Fort Wayne, Indiana and in Defiance, Ohio.
The City of Coldwater and the Coldwater B.P.U. hosted a safe eclipse watch party at Heritage Park.
Those with special eclipse glasses could see the moon cover all but a sliver of the sun at the time of the moon’s maximum coverage in Branch County.
The sun looked like a giant fingernail in the sky but since it was not a total eclipse, it did not get pitch dark around Coldwater.
But it was dark enough in downtown Coldwater for the street lights to come on in the 4 Corners area and some vehicles had their head lights on.
Courtesy Coldwater BPU
Quincy students and staff also enjoyed the eclipse on Monday.
Courtesy Quincy Community Schools Facebook page
The eclipse caused the temperature at the Branch County Memorial Airport to drop. It went down from 71 degrees at about 2:30 p.m. to 67 degrees an hour later. Once the sun came back, the temperature rose to a high for the day of 72 degrees at 5:30 p.m..
Comments