featuring Connor Mockett
Hello, everyone! Welcome back to another week of Life with Connor the Weatherman! This week I’d like to talk about a couple different things. One involves just me, the other involves something you’ll only see once in your entire life coming up on Monday, April 8th.
I thought I’d talk about a little adventure I embarked on for Easter Weekend. I drove back home to Ontario to see my family for a couple of days for Easter, but this time the drive was a little bit different. Usually I drive from Moncton to Ontario on the Trans Canada Highway through New Brunswick and Quebec. However, a snow storm in the northern part of New Brunswick and Eastern Quebec forced me to go a different direction. I went through Maine!
I ended up crossing the border near Saint John, New Brunswick, and heading into Maine to avoid most of the snow up north, mostly because I didn’t want to drive on snow covered roads for 2 or 3 hours. I’ve done a lot of driving in bad weather conditions as a chaser, but I just didn’t feel like driving in it for that long of a time period, where that stretch takes 2 to 3 hours on a day with normal roads and traffic. Add snow into the equation, and it’d take probably 4 or 5. Not fun when I’m trying to get somewhere at a specific time.
I’ve never been to Maine, so this was a new experience for me. As a long haul drive lover, I was excited to go a direction that I’ve never gone. I like to explore new roads, new areas, and new States. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up taking Maine to go home from now on instead of staying in Canada the whole time!
The drive in Maine was very beautiful actually! The mountains, scenic roads that Google Maps took me down, the roads going beside a bunch of ponds and lakes with views of more mountains in the background. It was a really good drive, with the music blasting of course. Can’t go on a long drive without the country music blasting! I ended up crossing back over the border near Sherbrooke, Quebec, and then eventually hopped onto the A-10, which took me back northwest towards the A-30, which turns into HWY 401 in Ontario. I ended up stopping at Philos restaurant in Cornwall for supper with both mine and Zoe’s family, which is definitely one of my favourite restaurants in Eastern Ontario. One of a kind!
So, that was my little Maine adventure. Let’s talk about April 8th now…
As you all already know (I hope), there’s a total solar eclipse coming up during the day on Monday, April 8th. If in the path of totality, this will literally turn day into night. Most areas will see the impacts, because even if you’re in Winchester, as an example, the eclipse percentage will be about 90-95%, which will be very noticeable obviously. If you want to get into the path of totality in Eastern Ontario to witness this, you’ll have to go down to the Seaway somewhere, which will be a very, very busy area.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Eastern Canada. There will not be anything like this for a very, very long time. There will be another total solar eclipse in August of 2044, but that will only be visible in the United States southwestern part of their country down there. So, what I can recommend to you all reading this, take the opportunity. There will be tons of businesses closed that afternoon, many schools, etc. will be closed as well. However, if you do go outside to look at it while it’s happening, PLEASE wear the proper eye protection so that you do not burn your eyes. It’s quite dangerous to look at it without your eclipse glasses!
