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Eclipse a No-Show on Oregon Coast, Evasive in Portland

Published 12/11/2011

(Portland, Oregon) – It was pretty much missing entirely along the Oregon coast. In Beaverton, it hid behind an increasingly thick fog layer. But in parts of Portland, it was visible – and even in the coast range.

Saturday morning's full lunar eclipse showed the moon becoming an otherworldly red-orange in the early, pre-dawn hours of the day. Those along the Oregon coast were highly disappointed, as some – like Sandy Doran Morrow in the coast range near Waldport, or Melissa Stetzel of Nehalem – bemoaned the fact the fog and clouds hid the stellar event from view. In north coast towns like Cannon Beach, Seaside, Manzanita and Pacific City, down to central coast spots like Depoe Bay or Yachats, it was essentially a no-show.

The moon popped into existence a few times earlier in the evening in the Beaverton area, but the fog grew thicker over the course of the morning and even trips to the area around the Oregon Zoo wasn't vialbe after a time. The fog had dissipated next to the children's museum around 4 a.m., allowing the above shot to be taken. At this point, the shadow was not visibly hitting the moon.

By around 5:20 a.m., this spot became useless. Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff found that the Portland downtown area had opened up, however, and the orange-red glow had taken over what the sun was not yet hitting.

By around 6 a.m., this was the moon as seen from the above I-405 in downtown Portland. More fun was added to the shot by utilizing a dead street lamp in the photo.

Over in the coast range, however, OMSI's Jim Todd was situated at Stub Stewart State Park, where conditions were clear as a bell.

“Thick icy fog covered the surrounding area below the hilltop and the incoming clouds stayed far west the entire time,” Todd said. “The bright full moon moved into the earth's shadow at 4:45 am and then at 6:06 am into the darkest shadow for the eclipse. At 6:31 am, the moon had a red-orange color at maximum eclipse above the frosty scene. As the moon moved out of the shadow at 6:57 am, the clouds started moving in with the sun rising from the east. This eclipse was simply beautiful in the winter scenery!”

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