Hundreds of people stopped in the streets of New York for the twice-yearly aligning of the sunset with the street grid of Manhattan on Tuesday night, but their hopes for a few minutes of solar serenity were struck down by storm clouds over New Jersey.
Crowds gathered in the city's cross streets to witness the event – due to begin at 8.17pm and which often produces quite striking views – were left dismayed.
A few hours before the phenomenon was due to be observed, the National Weather Service had issued a thunderstorm warning that proved to be disappointingly accurate. Manhattanhenge – named after Stonehenge, the circle of ancient rocks in southern England where the sun's rays align with the standing stones – was blacked out.
Mike Bradley was among more than 100 people packed around the balustrades of a small bridge overlooking 42nd Street in Manhattan. He professed himself to be "very excited", having been foiled in his effort to witness Manhattanhenge last year.
"I had a buddy who checked it out last year and he said it was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen," said Bradley, a 23-year-old university research assistant.
By 8pm at East 42nd Street the spectacle was already looking unlikely, as clouds massed in the west. In any case, ranks of amateur photographers had largely blocked the horizon; behind them people strained on tiptoe or vainly waved camera phones aloft.
Then, just before 8.17pm, a flash appeared in the sky. Unfortunately it turned out to be lightning. "Thwarted again," said Bradley.
Rob Nourse, an amateur photographer who had arrived at 4.30pm, was sanguine. "You can't get too upset about it." Nourse, an IT worker who described himself as a "professional nerd" from Toronto, Canada, has known such disappointment before: "I once drove to the top of some famous mountain to take a picture. I got to the top and it was all fogged in."
A similar phenomenon can be observed in other cities, including Toronto, Baltimore, Washington DC and Chicago. Nourse was confident he would capture it another day. "You're here, it is what it is. You can't get too caught up. I'm gonna go and have a beer."
Storify by Katie Rogers
