Did you miss the Great American Solar Eclipse back on August 21, 2017? If so, don't worry. The good news is that we are all only four years away from the next total solar eclipse that will pass through North America that will happen on April 8, 2024.
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From Mexico to the United States: total solar eclipse
The next total solar eclipse coming through the continent will be starting from Mexico, and then will enter Texas in the United States on April 8, 2024. The eclipse will be cutting a diagonal angle across the Lower 48 to Maine as it finishes in Canada's maritime provinces.
The eclipse will begin at 12:38 P.M. EDT and will end at 3:55 P.M. EDT. The maximum eclipse will be observed near the cities of Nazas and Torreon in Mexico. In these locations, the totality -- the moment the sun is completely blocked -- will last for about four minutes and 28 seconds.
This patch is pretty much different compared to August 2017's eclipse which began in the Pacific North West and ended in the Southeast that cut across the nation's heartland. A few areas south of St. Louis in southern Missouri experienced the totality on August 21, 2017, will be in the path for the 2024 total solar eclipse. This path will include Cape Girardeau and Farmington in Missouri.
Will the weather cooperate for 2024's solar eclipse?
Though it is pretty much too early for anyone to make a conclusive and specific weather forecast for four years from now, April's average weather conditions for many years can provide some perspective on what the chances are when it comes to cloudiness or rain.
As for cloud cover, there is a big chance that clouds may block the eclipse in some northern states compared to the ones in the south. A climatologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Brian Brettschneider, created a map that shows what that average afternoon cloud cover in early to mid-April that was all based on a long-term average starting from 1979 to 2016.
Cleveland and Buffalo, New York have an average of 60% to 70% cloud cover on a typical early-April afternoon, while San Antonio and Austin, Texas only have an average of 30% to 40% cloud cover during this time. All the cities are in the path of totality for the April 2024 eclipse.
Bretschneider also proved a map for the cloudiest month of the year. The public should keep in mind that these maps only represent climatological averages.
A specific forecast when it comes to rain or snow cannot be accurately made until a few days before the actual eclipse. The public should always visit weather.com for these details. There will be at least 29.9 million people that live along the path of the April 2024 eclipse.
After the 2024 eclipse, North America's next total solar eclipse will be in 2045.
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