Total eclipse of the local landmark

SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) - The stars have aligned for a Davison Township man to get the perfect shot in downtown Flint.

“I always thought it would be a neat picture if I could get the moon directly behind the weather ball,” said John Vamossy.

Vamossy works at the University of Michigan-Flint and gets to the campus before 6AM every day.

“About once a month, the full moon is in the Western sky near the weather ball as I walk from the parking to the university’s library and in the past it has come close to the weather ball,” Vamossy said.

Vamossy’s been keeping his eyes open for an opportunity to get the perfect eclipsed shot, but in the past cloudy skies and unfavorable conditions have been in the way.

However, this year’s strawberry moon combined with ideal sky conditions afforded him the chance to take a series of photographs.

The moon came directly in alignment with the 5,000-pound weather ball sitting several stories above the Huntington Bank building in downtown Flint.

The full moon we are experiencing right now is one of two consecutive supermoons that will appear brighter and larger than other moons because it is at its closest orbit to earth.

“I had a clear view from the university parking lot at the right time and I was happy to finally get the shot I wanted,” said Vamossy.

Vamossy posted the pictures on his own Facebook page calling it a “Weatherball Lunar Eclipse.”

The weather ball was installed in downtown Flint in 1956 and alerts people near and far of hot and cold temperatures as well as precipitation. A poem about it is well-known to locals in the area that reads:

When the weather ball is red, warmer temperatures ahead. When the weather ball is blue, colder temperatures are due. When yellow light is the color of the weather ball, there will be no change at all. When it blinks in agitation, there will be precipitation.

Vamossy can’t tell you why he wanted to capture the picture so badly for so long, other than to say, “I dunno. I’m just weird, I guess.”