How Much will the Temperature Drop During The Eclipse?

I was shopping today and the gentleman ringing me up said, "make sure your kids are prepared for the temperature drop tomorrow. When I was a young man, I was working in the fields and we had a total eclipse -- it went from 90-50 in a matter of seconds!" 40 degrees?!?!

Here's me...

I start reading and here is what NASA says:

Typically, how big a temperature drop do you get during a total solar eclipse?

It would probably be equal to the typical daytime minus nighttime temperature difference at that time of year and location on the Earth. .....The main effect is in the "radiant heating" component which goes away suddenly at the moment of eclipse and produces a very fast temperature decrease. If the wind is blowing, your body probably exaggerates, by evaporative cooling, how large the actual temperature swing actually is.

So - with my super awesome weather authority math - I calculate that we should have a temperature drop of 15 degrees during the eclipse. BUT...I thought it would be best if I let a real weather authority weigh in.

Joe Bird and he said...

We will have high humidity tomorrow, which can keep the temperatures from dropping greatly. So while temperatures could drop upwards of 15°, it would not be anything like what we experience overnight out of several hours of darkness. 

We will not be seeing a 40 degree temperature drop but a 15 degree drop is more likely !