To remember that it didn’t really get dark in the 1999 eclipse?

[powercats]

I was 14, in South Wales. If you look at the news coverage and videos recorded in 1999 it seems to get as dark as night. But I don’t remember that at all - the sky was still blue, it just went dim, like it would in heavy rain or as if it was 6pm instead of 11am.

Is this how other people remember it?

It was pitch black for me in the south west.

I remember that it suddenly went dark but indeed, not pitch dark as a cloudy night with no moon.

Yeah I remember being really disappointed (I was 8) maybe it depends where you were

Same.

I was talking to my husband about it yesterday and it hasn't registered in my mind that it depends where you live! Like the OP his experience was not the total darkness.

Just looked it up. Devon and Cornwall experienced totality, so if you weren’t in that area you would not have witnessed it.

Quite dark for me. I was near Penzance.

I think it depends whether you were in the area where it was a total eclipse or not. I was on Dartmoor and it def got dark

It was only totality in the SW. There were a lot of festivals in Devon and Cornwall, I was at one of them and it got dark. Further north it was only a partial eclipse so didn’t get dark.

It got quite dark, and chilly and I remember the birds coming home to roost, was in the SE.

I was out in the garden with DC. It went grey and chilly but not pitch black. All the birds stopped singing and it all felt a bit eerie.

I remember it getting the heavy storm kind of dark at the seaside in Yorkshire.

It was a bit disappointing last time. Can’t get too excited for this one.

Yes, this. It was just spooky. We used to keep chickens at the time and they all put themselves to bed.

It was very eerie, it went dark for us in Dorset.

We were on Guernsey, where it was very clear skies - what I remember most was the sudden utter silence as the birds stopped tweeting, then them beginning again as it got lighter. It wasn’t dark like a cloudy night but it was certainly very dim.

I was in Somerset and it didn't get dark at all.

Depends where you were in the UK in 1999 and whether you were in the path of totality, which just went over the tip of Cornwall IIRC.

From Google AI

Light Level Dynamics

• Partial Phase (>99% Obscuration): Up until the final fraction of a percent, the light level drops in direct proportion to how much of the Sun's face is covered.
• Human Perception: Because human eyes process brightness on a logarithmic scale rather than a linear one, the environment still feels surprisingly bright even at 95% to 99% eclipse. The dramatic "switch to night" feeling only happens in the final minute before totality.
• At Totality: Direct sunlight drops to zero. The residual illumination is equivalent to a deep nautical twilight or right after sunset, matching sky conditions where bright planets and major stars become clearly visible.

Unless you are in the path of totality then you hardly notice the drop in light level.

So the 90% totality today in the UK will be hardly noticable.

Only fully total eclipses are a real experience worth seeing IMO and are spectacular. Partial eclipses are just meh.

I'm the same. In 1999 I was in Somerset so quite a high percentage but not totality. I expect a lot of people will be disappointed tonight.

I was in Manchester, it didn't go "dark" it was more like storm clouds and a partial loss of light. Very underwhelming as I remember.

Same for me except I was in the car park at work because we all went out of the office to watch it.
I was in Reading at the time and it just got a bit grey and weird.

Yes this. SE London

We were in Yorkshire too. That describes it well. It was a lovely sunny day and got noticably cooler too. and very quiet. I did the pinhole in a card to project the eclipse and got quite an audience to the embarrassment of my kids

Halifax and it went like dusk very charged air and everything went silent for a few minutes it was interesting, I'm old enough to remember one when I was at junior school and making periscope type instrument with a mirror and cardboard whole school went out to do this it was fun

I was in the path of totality in Cornwall. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Magical.

Night-time black south of Manchester out in the country with no artificial light, it was fabulous.