Friday's much-hyped solar eclipse – which had authorities warning people not to attempt to view it directly or take selfies with it – came and went with a whimper here in Lebanon, and several other places, due to heavy cloud cover.
But despite much excitement – the eclipse has been trending on Google for days – the two-hour partial eclipse was hardly noticeable. In Beirut, the moon was expected to cover less than 40 percent of the Sun’s surface. But many Lebanese couldn’t even get a good glimpse to see - the clouds threatened to rain on the eclipse party.
Other cities experienced the same problem, with London’s reputation for a permanent forecast of cloudy and dismal not failing to ruin the day yet again.
Residents of Reykjavik, where the sun was up to 97 percent covered, fared better. A full solar eclipse was only visible in the far north of Denmark and Norway.
Don’t worry, Lebanon has another shot at seeing an eclipse here - in 2020.