Hundreds of thousands of people who have traveled to see Monday’s total solar eclipse across the southern and northeastern United States are likely to be disappointed, as cloud cover and bad weather cover much of the path.
The experience is spectacular. During totality, the outer portion of the sun — the corona — is visible, as are stars near the sun, and planets such as Mercury, which is normally invisible. Animals are quiet, and twilight rings the horizon.
The eclipse will begin in North America at 2:07 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (11:07 a.m. local time) on Mexico’s Pacific coast. The shadow of the moon will cross soon afterwards into Texas, passing near or over Dallas, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; Carbondale, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; and Burlington, Vermont. The moon’s shadow will leave continental North America via Newfoundland at 3:46 p.m. EDT (5:16 p.m. local time).
Dallas was once thought to be the likeliest location to enjoy clear skies, but now weather forecaster put the chance of clear skies there are roughly 5%, with heavy thunderstorms likely later in the day.
Many people have traveled to see the eclipse, booking air tickets, hotel rooms, and other accommodations.
However, many of those travelers are likely to be disappointed — though others will be absolutely delighted.
Some eclipse chasers will escape the clouds by flying above them, on special chartered flights.
Looking at the sun is very dangerous, except at the moment of totality, and viewers should make use of special glasses or a pinhole camera.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
The post Eclipse Likely a Dud Across Most of U.S. Path; Spectacular in Spots appeared first on Breitbart.
