We’re almost there.
In just two days, for just the second time in seven years, day will suddenly become night for a few brief, wondrous minutes as the orbiting moon blocks the sun’s light along a southwest-to-northeast path across the continent.
Meteorologists continue to refine their forecasts for the total solar eclipse, and now have a pretty good idea of where the spectacle will be most (and least) visible.
Here’s the latest forecast:
Where will the solar eclipse be visible?
Federal forecasters said Friday afternoon that the best chances for clear viewing of the total eclipse are in “northern New England and from southern Missouri to central Indiana.”
Outside the path of totality, which stretches from Texas to Maine, “the best locations for viewing should be across the Southwest, out of the mountains,” AccuWeather lead long-range forecaster Paul Pastelok said. Other good spots include “California, again, out of the mountains, New England, and parts of the mid-Atlantic and Southeast.”
“Cities like Los Angeles, El Paso, New York City, Boston and Raleigh should all have nice views of the eclipse from start to finish,” he added.
Where will it be cloudy?
Unfortunately for folks in the path of totality, “clouds may impede viewing from Texas into Arkansas, and possibly in Ohio, northwest Pennsylvania, and western New York,” the Weather Prediction Center said. “Rain showers are also possible during totality in all of those areas.”
Elsewhere, for the partial eclipse, AccuWeather long-range expert Joe Lundberg added that “other areas with poor viewing conditions will be from Wisconsin westward through South Dakota and Nebraska to Washington and Oregon.”
What time is the solar eclipse?
The eclipse will begin in Texas at 1:27 p.m. CDT and end in Maine at 3:35 p.m. EDT, but the exact time of the eclipse varies by where you are in its path. You can search by zip code to find the exact time for your location.
What is the path of totality?
The path of totality is the area where people on Earth can see the moon completely cover the sun as the moon’s shadow falls upon them. Space.com describes it as “the cone-shaped inner (umbral) shadow of the moon projected onto the Earth’s surface.”
To view all of the stages of a total solar eclipse, you must watch it from somewhere along that path of totality, NASA said. Viewers outside this narrow, roughly 115-mile wide path will only see a partial eclipse of the sun.
You probably don’t have to worry about your dogs and cats during the eclipse
Don’t worry, your dog and/or cat will likely be oblivious to the eclipse, according to Pasco, a science education company.
“It is unlikely that dogs and cats will react to solar eclipses, as they typically do not have a strong biological or behavioral response to changes in light or natural phenomena like eclipses,” Pasco reports.
Just in case, Pasco recommends you keep your pets inside during the eclipse and distract them with toys or treats. Same thing works for people if necessary.
Eclipse boosts travel as Americans chase rare celestial event
The upcoming eclipse is proving to be a good omen for travel firms, as some parts of the United States that fall in the “path of totality” see unprecedented demand for lodging from eager Americans waiting to catch a glimpse of the celestial event.
Airbnb listings along the U.S. path of totality, or the narrow strip stretching from Texas to Maine from where people will be able to view the sun’s corona, have seen occupancy levels skyrocket to nearly 90%, the vacation rental firm said.
Occupancy for all active rental listings across the path in the United States, Canada and Mexico was at 92.4% for the night of April 7, up sharply from about 30% a few days prior, according to travel data firm AirDNA.
“It is a nice bump in demand in a relatively slow period of the year. Typically April isn’t a high point for short-term rental demand,” said Jamie Lane, chief economist at AirDNA.
Contributing: Reuters
