Forecast cloudy here too (SW). It'll be a pretty small eclipse with a little bite out of the Sun here and slightly more as you go north, but it won't be anywhere close to the March 2015 one, which would have been the closest I've seen to a total had I not seen the 1999 from under the centre line of totality (on a boat
). Still worth a look if you can though.
It's safe to look at it through cloud but ONLY if you just take very quick glimpses. DO NOT stare at it and most important if you're watching with children don't use any sort of direct observation. You don't want them thinking it's a good idea to do the same.
If you have an eclipse viewer (or if you have a bit of mylar there's still time to make one) but do make sure it's undamaged before you use it (look through it at a normal brightness light bulb). Mylar is quite fragile.
If you happen to have a sheet of mylar you can make a solar filter for a long lens. I use a 600mm lens but have also got very acceptable images from a 300mm. Put the camera on a tripod and don't look at the Sun to find it. If you have cloud cover you can image without a filter. A lot of my images of the 2015 eclipse were taken unfiltered as the sky didn't clear till mid eclipse.
You can also project the image if you have a telescope or even using a pair of binoculars. If you're going to do that cover any lenses that are not in use eg finder scope or one ocular of the bins, and DO NOT look directly through them.
Have a look of the Society for Popular Astronomy website where Lucie Green has a vid talking about how to view safely.
It's always interesting imaging if there are also some good sunspots, but it's a bit quiet on that from right now.
www.timeanddate.com
