In the days leading up the total solar eclipse, all people wanted to know is where they could see watch this once-in-a-lifetime event. The only thing stopping anyone — aside from not getting a pair of special eclipse viewing glasses — was the weather. What would happen if the clouds were covering the sun the moment the eclipse was set to take place? NBC News Digital teamed up with their Weather Unit to create a streaming eclipse forecast on Facebook that would help viewers determine where to watch the event.
With the weather constantly changing, even just hours leading up the event, we had to be up to speed on the current weather forecast to be sure we were delivering up-to-the-minute updates on where to watch the eclipse. And there was no telling what kind of technology issues we'd run into. On the day of the eclipse, we had to update the Facebook Live feed in real time and in conjunction with an NBC News special report that was happening.
People love obsessing over weather forecasts — and that was made evident in the eclipse forecast, where the weather could make or break the light show. Across the Facebook Live videos, we saw a total of more than 2.5 million views, thousands of likes, shares and comments and fantastic feedback from readers and viewers.
