I live south of Charlotte, NC, so just north of the path of the total eclipse of the sun. Most of the office went home this afternoon to view/observe.
The dimmed light was a strange sort of light, with the sun in the sky, but lacking it's normal intensity. The birds quieted down and teh cicadias start their nightly chirp. this lasted for about 15-20 minutes of the darkest part of the eclipse, then they stopped as the light returned, but the birds resumed signing like it was morning.
We saw a 5 degree temperature drop.
The dimness outside looked like I had very dark sunglasses on, but yet the shadows suggested the sun was still up in the sky.
The spots of light through the tree leaves in the yard left a crescent shape instead of the usual round shape. We observed the eclipse via a pinhole in a piece of paper, casting the shadow on another piece of paper on the ground. Was interesting to see this pinhole camera effect and observe the coverage of the sun.