Tony Laubach was one of many eclipse chasers that converged in Midland, Texas, to see the Ring of Fire on Oct. 14.
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00:00 I'm meteorologist Tony Loback here at the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas.
00:04 Ground zero for a beautiful view of a celestial event known as the Ring of Fire eclipse.
00:09 Not a cloud in the sky disturbed the view as myself and hundreds of my closest friends
00:14 came in from all over the country to witness the Ring of Fire.
00:18 Arriving in Midland the day before, myself and my chase partner Ed Grubb
00:26 finalized the prep work to outfit all our cameras to capture Saturday's eclipse.
00:31 Our target destination, the Museum of the Southwest, where folks from all over the
00:35 country spent dozens of hours traveling hundreds if not thousands of miles just for...
00:41 They're about four minutes and 50 seconds of annularity.
00:43 We drove over from Louisville, Kentucky to Midland, Texas to look at the 2023 annular solar eclipse.
00:49 James was one of many expected to watch the skies.
00:52 We're expecting anywhere between 2,500-3,000 people this year. Make this go-to place that
00:58 everyone wants to come to. I was like, we've done our job and we've done what this museum
01:02 and what the planetarium is supposed to do for the community.
01:05 Those people began to arrive early Saturday morning,
01:08 hours ahead of the eclipse just to get set up and ready for the show.
01:11 Some of the more enthusiastic folks got out here early with us as well.
01:16 As the morning drew on, more folks began to arrive excited for what was to come.
01:21 My grandma is really interested and obviously had done all the research beforehand,
01:27 tracking the line and the dates and the times to make sure everything is where it should be
01:32 to get the best vantage point of the eclipse. And so we drove down last night and, you know,
01:37 looking forward to it. As the moon made first contact,
01:40 people armed themselves with eclipse glasses, got cozy, and watched as the moon slowly began
01:45 to overtake the sun. It will be spectacular because you'll still
01:48 see the ring because I think the ring is going to be gorgeous.
01:52 And at 11.45 a.m., Mother Nature finally put a ring on it.
01:56 This eclipse, just a warm-up to what we will be looking forward to in April of 2024.
02:12 And folks, if you thought the Ring of Fire was the sight to behold,
02:15 just you wait until the total eclipse comes next April.
02:18 Reporting for AccuWeather in Midland, Texas, I'm meteorologist Tony Laubach.