Return to Urumqi
Posted by lowellr | Filed under Total Solar Eclipse: Live from China
The drive back to Urumqi felt a bit faster than the trip out. It was pretty hot, probably above 40 °C most of the way. In contrast to our trip to Yiwu (the outbound trip), it actually rained a bit, creating a cooler surreal trip across the desert. It’s hard to ignore the irony that Beijing has been dying for rain to cut down on its airborne pollution, while Xinjiang was engulfed in clouds and rain, scaring eclipse chasers with every breeze. (Of course, today we know it worked out). Below is a time-compressed video of of our trip out to the Weizi Gorge (Yiwu) along China’s cloud-covered Silk Road.
Tags: time lapse, travel, weather
A look back at clouds
Posted by lowellr | Filed under Total Solar Eclipse: Live from China
The group has had a real love hate relationship with clouds on this trip. The cloudscape of the Weizi Gorge was so spectacular it was easy to overlook that our fluffy friends were blocking our main reason for lugging 1700 lbs. of gear out to the edge of the Gobi Desert. Here’s a short time-lapse video of the sky at our camp one day before the eclipse.
Tags: clouds, eclipse, time lapse
Ürümqi, Night and Day
Posted by lowellr | Filed under Total Solar Eclipse: Live from China
Tags: time lapse, urumqi
