![]() “A lot of places that are asking for very high prices won't realize them,” says Zeiler. Visit any popular hotel-booking website, and you’ll find that lodging opportunities in many cities in or near the path of totality are either booked up or charging exorbitant prices. However, S&T’s Mexico Eclipse Cruise still has spots available. Scores of eclipse tours are already sold out, including Sky & Telescope’s The Great Texas Eclipse Tour (although there’s a waiting list). “It’s after the eclipse that it’s terrible because everyone gets on the highway at the same time.” Learn from 2017 and plan to stay an extra night. “On the morning of the eclipse, the traffic usually isn't too bad,” says Zeiler, although he advises getting into position a day early. Traffic prospects on ApThis map shows how long it will take to drive to the path of totality on Ap(not counting traffic).Īnyone who watched the eclipse in 2017 and drove home that night will remember the horrendous traffic. Just prior to an eclipse, Anderson usually swaps from long-term climatological forecasts to all-important short-term updates on the weather, both on Sky & Telescope and on. “Eclipse-chasers study the weather starting several days in advance and are prepared to drive several hundred miles to maximize the odds,” says Michael Zeiler, a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based cartographer and eclipse-chaser who runs. the most likely place to have clear skies is Texas Hill Country, with Fredericksburg (49%) and Kerrville (50%) in prime position, though Junction (44%) close to the northern edge of the path has a slightly higher chance of a clear sky. Mazatlán on the coast has a 28% chance of clouds on eclipse day followed by Torreón (27%) and Durango (30%) inland in the mountains. It’s also important to remember that clouds can form as the temperature drops by as much as 15✯ before an eclipse.Īccording to long-time eclipse meteorologist Jay Anderson at, locations with the best prospects for clear weather are all in Mexico. April is an unpredictable month, and it’s even tornado season in the American Midwest. If there’s one huge difference between the 20 total solar eclipses, it’s the weather. Weather Prospects on ApAverage April (2000-2020) cloud cover measured from the Aqua spacecraft at approximately 13:30 local time from 2000 to 2020.ĭata: NASA. Subscribers to Sky & Telescope can find a detailed rundown of the weather prospects and other planning aspects for all of these locations in the April 2023 issue. Visit for simulations of exactly what observers will see from thousands of locations. ![]() It enters Canada over Lake Eerie, bringing totality to Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. The Moon’s shadow then engulfs Torreón and Durango before entering the U.S., where it will cross 15 states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky (as well as tiny regions of Tennessee and Michigan), Indiana, Ohio Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. It touches Islas Marías (Mary Islands) just before reaching land at Mazatlán in Sinaloa, Mexico. Maximum totality gradually lessens as the path heads northeast, reducing to 2 minutes 52 seconds as it leaves Canada for the Atlantic Ocean.Ībout 10,000 miles long, the path starts close to Penrhyn Atoll in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The maximum possible totality available to eclipse-chasers on April 8, 2024, will be 4 minutes 28 seconds in Nazas, Mexico, but the Moon blocks the Sun only a second less as the path enters Texas. More than 30 million people live in the path of totality, almost three times more than for the 2017 eclipse. The Path of Totality on ApThe number of people who live inside the path of totality by state. For many, the 2024 event will be the most impressive total solar eclipse of their lives. Totality will come to Mexico, the U.S., and Canada on Monday, April 8, 2024, and it’s coming less than seven years after the last eclipse to cross North American soil, on August 21, 2017. To witness a total solar eclipse is to see the outer edges of our star as they truly are, as the spiky and spellbinding corona becomes visible to the unaided eye during a few chilled minutes of twilight. ![]() Photo by Rick Fienberg, processing by Sean Walker courtesy TravelQuest International and Sky & Telescope Several red solar prominences (eruptions of glowing hydrogen gas) are visible, as are a couple of stars. No single photo can capture the huge range of brightness exhibited by the solar corona, which is sculpted by the Sun’s magnetic field. This is a composite of short, medium, and long exposures. ![]() The total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, as seen from Madras, Oregon. ![]()
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