SALEM, Oregon (AP) - The Latest on the solar eclipse in Oregon, Idaho and Washington (all times local):
2:50 p.m.
Julia DuBois saw two rings during the total solar eclipse - one in the sky and the other on her finger.
The Statesman Journal reports (https://is.gd/ygzjJO ) the Seattle woman visited Newport, Oregon, to see Monday’s eclipse. When it got dark, her boyfriend Stephan Baker got down on one knee and popped the question.
She said yes.
DuBois says she was pretty shocked, and it was a nice surprise.
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2:30 p.m.
While many motorists in the Pacific Northwest spent hours on clogged highways after watching the eclipse, pilots confronted their own traffic jam at a small airport in central Oregon.
The Oregonian/OregonLive and KPTV reports that up to 400 planes were awaiting takeoff at Madras Municipal Airport.
Oregon Department of Aviation director Mitch Swecker says other airports had more private planes than usual ahead of the eclipse, but Madras - a prime viewing spot in the path of totality - had much more traffic.
A reporter from KPTV was at the airport. He posted a video of many planes taxiing at once, and said the sound was almost deafening.
12:35 p.m.
The total solar eclipse was a big draw for Weiser, Idaho.
Keith Bryant is the co-owner of Weiser Classic Candy. He believes there were 10,000 to 15,000 people in town for the eclipse. That’s a huge influx for the town, which normally has just 5,500 residents.
Bryant says “totality was just beautiful,” and he can understand why some people chase eclipses all over the world.
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12:15 p.m.
John Hays drove up from Bishop, California for the total eclipse in Salem, Oregon, and says the experience of seeing it become night at 10:30 a.m. will stay with him forever.
He watched from a deck overlooking the Willamette Valley and the foothills of the Coastal Range. He says it was amazing to look across the landscape.
He says: “The crescent moon shadows became thinner and thinner. That silvery ring is so hypnotic and mesmerizing, it does remind you of wizardry or like magic.”
Meanwhile, Todd Hoover of Tacoma, Washington, camped out at a park on the outskirts of Salem. He says he tried to describe what he saw in a text message to his parents, and just couldn’t.
He remembered feeling the temperature drop as the moon further shielded the sun’s rays: “It was pretty intense.”
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11:55 a.m.
Now that the show’s over, it’s time to worry about getting home.
Interstate 5 near Salem, Oregon, had bumper-to-bumper traffic almost immediately after the solar eclipse reached its maximum level of awesome. Traffic was also heavy heading from central Oregon to Portland.
The Washington Department of Transportation said in a tweet: “Returning from Oregon now? Good luck. It’s really nasty.”
The Oregon Department of Transportation has spent days warning eclipse viewers to stagger their departure times, and not all leave at once.
Meanwhile, Idaho State Police is reporting that traffic remains at a standstill in eastern Idaho along both U.S. 20 south of Ashton and U.S. 26 going into Wyoming. Officials are encouraging drivers to be patient as crowds disperse from watching the eclipse.
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10:50 a.m.
Northwest cities not quite in the path of totality also enjoyed the solar eclipse.
Boise’s not in totality - birds quieted down briefly when 99.5 percent of sun was blocked. But some neighborhoods erupted into clapping and hooting as residents cheered the show from their yards.
In Portland, hundreds gathered at Tom McCall Waterfront Park to see the rare celestial event. Some office workers stood on rooftops, and small crowds gathered on the sidewalks, looking skyward. Some expressed surprise that even a sliver of sun can prevent a city from falling into darkness.
Within minutes, traffic resumed on what had been eerily quiet downtown streets.
10:30 a.m.
Oregonians watched the total eclipse from parks, street corners and house decks, oohing and ahhing as the landscape was bathed in a ghostly, fluorescent light that created crescent-shaped shadows.
Some 15 people crowded onto the deck of a house in Salem overlooking the Willamette Valley drank mimosas, and applauded a mailman who pulled his van over, hopped out and donned eclipse glasses.
“Neither snow nor rain,” someone shouted, starting the U.S. Postal Service creed. The mailman waved back with a big grin.
The valley quickly went dark, the temperature dropped and the sun was finally blotted out by the moon, only its fiery edge visible.
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9:50 a.m.
Eclipse watchers flocked to city parks in Oregon’s capital city of Salem, which lies on the path of totality, with tent camps having mushroomed overnight.
Dire predictions of huge traffic jams did not materialize for many travelers, like Jonathan Moric and Finn Power, who drove down from Vancouver, Canada, on Sunday. Another man who drove down from Seattle Sunday night said there was little to no traffic.
In a broad meadow where dogs normally romp, hundreds of people sat, trying on their eclipse glasses as the celestial event began. Dozens of tents had been erected, and locals walked to the site carrying lawn chairs and backpacks.
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9:05 a.m.
Eric Lee is not taking any chances.
The Sacramento, California, man tells The Oregonian/OregonLive (https://is.gd/YhS1fY ) he drove to the Oregon coast Sunday and spent the night in a parking lot north of Depoe Bay.
He wanted to see the moon’s shadow go across the ocean. But after awakening to a cloudy Monday, he has decided to head inland in search of clear skies.
Though locals tell him the skies will clear before the eclipse, he doesn’t want to gamble when it comes to witnessing the astronomical event of his lifetime.
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8:50 a.m.
Transportation officials are reporting higher than normal traffic flows across Idaho as the solar eclipse approaches, but not enough to affect travel times. The Idaho Transportation Department is monitoring roads and updating the public on possible delays on both its website and mobile app.
Meanwhile, according to The Times-News, some pull-out areas in Arco are already full with eclipse watchers.
“I want to go to Idaho to see something that’s only going to last a couple of minutes,” Paul Frishman of Las Vegas, told the newspaper.
Over in eastern Idaho, officials report that Craters of the Moon National Monument was at capacity as of Sunday and will only allow travelers to enter as others leave. The Idaho National Laboratory is also at capacity.
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8:30 a.m.
Dire warnings of bumper-to-bumper traffic on Oregon roads failed to happen in the days leading up to the total solar eclipse.
And most travelers reached their destination with relative ease Monday morning.
But traffic has started to clog on some roads as procrastinators head into the path of totality. The Oregon Department of Transportation says a 30-minute drive from Redmond to Madras on Highway 97 in Central Oregon is taking at least 75 minutes.
Officials are concerned about jams following the eclipse. They hope drivers will stagger their departures, instead of all leaving at once.
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8:15 a.m.
An astronaut, eclipse experts, reporters and some lucky contest winners have unique seats for the total solar eclipse on Monday.
They’ll be viewing it from 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) above the Pacific Ocean. About 100 people are on Alaska Airlines’ special eclipse chaser charter flight, which left Portland, Oregon at 7:30 a.m. PDT and was expected to fly southwest over the ocean for about two hours before turning north to intercept the solar spectacle.
The passengers will be able to watch totality - the point at which the moon completely covers the sun - from their seats.
At a press conference before the flight, Dr. Michael Barrett, a NASA astronaut and medical doctor who has participated in two space missions, said the last eclipse he saw was in 1979 in eastern Washington.
Barrett said that eclipse pushed him toward choosing a career in space.
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8 a.m. PDT
Students from Central Washington University in Ellensburg are preparing to launch a weather balloon intended to capture live video and photos of the eclipse.
The CWU students are among 52 teams from 31 states taking part in a NASA project to document the eclipse. NASA is paying for the work.
The students will launch the balloon Monday morning from Culver, Oregon.
Professor Darci Snowden told the Yakima Herald-Republic that the balloon will reach near the edge of the atmosphere of Earth.
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7:31 PDT:
David Avison of Lake Oswego, Oregon, began looking for a place to watch the eclipse six years ago in 2011.
That’s when his wife’s British third cousin emailed them to announce they would be visiting for the eclipse. Avison’s wife tried to make reservations at a nearby resort that same day but they were already book. Instead, the group took an overnight train Monday from Avison’s home in his Portland suburb to the Oregon State Fairgrounds.
Avison drove to the fairgrounds Sunday to get an early spot at the venue.
He says people who want to see the next eclipse in 2024 ought to make reservations now.
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6:46 PDT:
With just hours to go before a total solar eclipse would reach the Oregon coast, people were streaming into the fairgrounds in Salem, Oregon to view the spectacle on Monday morning.
The sound of Taiko drummers, part of a pre-eclipse show at the fairgrounds, filled the air. Less than 50 miles north in Portland, Oregon, eclipse experts, contest winners, an astronaut and members of the media were boarding an Alaska Airlines charter flight, about to fly two hours southwest in order to intercept the eclipse about 10 a.m. PDT.
Meanwhile thousands of eclipse tourists were gathered in the tiny town of Weiser, Idaho. Among them was Agnese Zalcmane who traveled to the western United States from Latvia so she could be in the zone of totality, watching as the moon’s shadow completely covers the sun.
Blue skies were forecast across much the Pacific Northwest.
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