A total solar eclipse is coming up this spring on April 8 and some of New England is in the path of totality! The total eclipse is the only kind of eclipse you can remove your special glasses and look at the ring of fire overhead during totality.
What does totality mean?
There is an actual path that the moon’s shadow casts on the earth as the moon passes between the sun and earth. The path of the moon’s shadow is about 120 miles wide. Even if you aren’t in that path, like in Boston, you can still see a partial eclipse (with only the safety of glasses!). But the experience is literally “night” and “day”.
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Vermont, far northern New Hampshire, and Maine will be in the path of totality. In Vermont: Burlington, Montpelier, Barre, Greensboro, and Middlebury. In New Hampshire: Lancaster, Dixville Notch, and Pittsburg. In Maine: Rangely, Jackman, Millinocket, Houlton, Danforth, Presque Isle, and Caribou. The best places to take it in would be on a mountain. A next best option would be in a wide open field, stadium or football field with minimum tree cover or buildings around to get the best view.
The total eclipse and darkness lasts about four minutes. This is such a strange occurrence that people will pull over along the roads to view anywhere along the path.
While we can’t forecast whether there will be clouds or not at this time, we can look at climate data to see a probability of viewing. NOAA put together a map of the historical likelihood of viewability along the entire path. Burlington, VT has about a 40-60% likelihood of viewability for this date in April. Other cities along the path of totality: Cleveland, Toronto, & Indianapolis with 20-40%; Austin & San Antonio with 60-80%.
Other phenomenon we could see under the 4 minutes of darkness during the total eclipse: temperatures drop about 10 degrees F, you can see other planets, stars, meteors or comets in the sky, animals my behave strangely or like it’s bedtime. And another thing to consider if you’re going to make a trip to the path of totality is this is the last chance to see a total solar eclipse in the United States for 20 years (August 23, 2044). So grab some cool eclipse glasses and enjoy the show…as long as our earthly weather cooperates.
