Rain on the parade: Cloud cover limits view of partial solar eclipse

It’s a beauty that only comes along every couple of years, but even with a partial solar eclipse, hopes were sky-high on Vancouver Island when it came to catching a glimpse of a cosmic rarity.

A crowd gathered Monday morning at the Centre of the Universe in Saanich, as the peak viewing time was pegged for 11:29 a.m. PDT.

“In Victoria, it’s only a 28 per cent coverage of the sun,” says Dennis Crabtree, director emeritus of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory.

Standing away from getting a look at this partial eclipse, was cloud cover.

Jordyn lives in Victoria, and despite the setback, rigged up a viewing box from an Amazon box, some aluminum foil, and a piece of paper.

“I stick my head in here,” he says as he turns his body away from the sun, allowing the sun’s image to transpose through the foil and into the paper inside the box.

David Lee is an amateur astronomer and travelled to Oregon in 2017 to be in the path of totality for a solar eclipse.

“Nothing you can do can really prepare yourself for it,” he says.

A full blackout can last anywhere between 30 seconds and seven-and-a-half minutes.

In Canada, the path of totality ran through Niagara Falls. Amanda Stewart and her family stopped on their way to New York to take in the phenomenon at a local park.

After partial glimpses due to cloud cover, they saw the full totality at around 3:18 p.m. EDT.

“It was the coolest feeling,” says Stewart.

The next solar eclipse is set for August of 2026, and to see the full phenomenon, you’ll have to travel a lot further than Niagara Falls.

The path is in the northern hemisphere and is expected to run through Greenland, Iceland, Russia and part of Portugal.

“That’s the next one for me,” says Lee.

A projector was set up in the Centre of the Universe to witness the real-time phenomenon from a live feed in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Other people in Niagara also sent their eclipse photos to CHEK News:

Julie Boyer captured the above photo in Niagara Falls, Ont.

Adam Sokoloski captured the above photo in Grimsby, Ont.

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