Eclipse viewing is a vicarious affair

It wasn't just your run-of-the-mill cloud cover that kept Carlton County residents inside looking at the eclipse online on Monday. It was what writers call a leaden sky, oozing rain all day. A real soaker, with a deck of bruise-colored clouds blotting out any semblance of a sun, let alone one that was diminished by just over 70 percent as the moon moved over its path.

It was dark all day, but perceptibly darker around 2 p.m., when the partial eclipse reached its peak. Or maybe it was just another deep rain band clipping through.

Minnesota, and particularly the northeast, basically had the crummiest weather one could dream up for an eclipse day. Especially when compared to the luck that swept across the nation as the path of the total eclipse remained mostly cloud-free.

Of course, we assuage ourselves with that completely Minnesota shrug of "It could be worse. At least no one burned their retinas. And we certainly needed the rain."

Students in the area cooped up inside Monday afternoon watched eclipse coverage from NASA and other outlets. And they received lessons from teachers on what exactly was happening on the other side of that impenetrable sky.

At Cloquet Middle School, Katherine Nistler talked about the solar eclipse with her eighth-grade students just as the eclipse peaked.

Next door, another middle school class watched online coverage of the total eclipse that passed over the country from Texas to Maine.

Nistler handed out eclipse-viewing glasses for the students to try on. Some went to her lighted model of the earth, moon and sun and made their own eclipse moment.

In classrooms across Minnesota, there were a lot of canceled plans. Teachers last week were helping students create shadow boxes and pinhole projectors and ordering those safety glasses. Some had even planned observation activities to record plant and animal behavior during the eclipse.

In Barnum, students were asked to describe their eclipse experience in six words, referred to as "Eclipse in Six." Submissions featured on Minnesota Public Radio included:

• The only eclipse is on television.

• Hope to see it next time.

• It was amazing, I've been told.

• It was a sad let-down.

• I guess we needed the rain.

There had not been a total solar eclipse in the contiguous United States since 2017 and, before that, 1979. The next one visible in the U.S. will be Aug. 23, 2044, in the Dakotas and Montana. But there will be total solar eclipses in other parts of the world before then. The next one will be in August of 2026 across the Arctic, eastern Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain.

Minnesota had total solar eclipses pass over in 1925 and 1954. Make plans for the next total eclipse here in September of 2099. Hopefully, the sky will be clear.

Pine Knot News partner Minnesota Public Radio News contributed to this story.