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Eclipse chasing is as much about cloud avoidance as it is about astronomy . On April 8 , those within the 115 - mile - wide ( 185 kilometers)path of totalitythat stretches from northwest Mexico to southeast Canada will be hoping for readable skies .
The prize is an unobstructed horizon of an eclipse sun during entireness — the only clock time it ’s safe to removesolar occultation glassesand the only time the sun ’s spectacular electric glow can be hear with the raw eye .
Avoiding clouds and bad weather is every eclipse chaser’s obsession.
The southwestern office of the itinerary of totality , including in Mexico and Texas , are typically warm this clip of the year and have a significantly high fortune of well-defined skies than the northeast theatrical role of the way , where the weather condition is usually colder in April .
However , no situation in the path of sum has a guarantee of absolved weather that day . " Even along the part of the course with the best climate , there ’s still a 1 - in-3 hazard of feature some kind of swarm cover , " Jay Anderson , a Canadian meteorologist who publishes study of the climate along eclipse cut onEclipsophile , told Live Science .
Without meaningful weather forecasts until a few days before April 8 , all we have to go on is historical cloud - coverage data point . accord toTheSkyLive , everywhere in the path from Mazatlán , on Mexico ’s Pacific Coast , to Little Rock , Arkansas , has a 50 % hazard of a " mostly clean-cut or good " sky . The internet site play up the U.S.-Mexico border as statistically the most potential to be unmortgaged , with Piedras Negras , Mexico , and Eagle Pass and Uvalde , Texas , reaching 59 % .
Some eclipse chasers may need to travel for the best view of totality on April 8.
relate : April 8 total solar eclipse : The best places to stargaze near the path of sum
But none of those telephone number guarantee absolved sky on April 8 . " Start seriously looking at weather prognosis five days out , and make plans three days [ before ] , " Anderson advised . " Look at the prognosis the night before , and if it looks good someplace else , then divert , if you’re able to , though there are time when you have to make a decision four hours out . "
Most occultation chasers wo n’t have the luxury to move , whether because of planned event and logistics or bad dealings . But wherever you are in the path of aggregate , there ’s always hope for clear skies because of a phenomenon called occultation cooling .
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" cloud are drive by the sun ’s heating of the soil , so when the ground cool during the eclipse ’s partial phases , cloud can scatter , " Anderson pronounce . " It can even go from a 70 % cloud get across to 1 % in the quad of five to 10 minutes . "
If that does n’t pass and clouds block up your view of the sun ’s corona , do n’t despair . The lunar month ’s shadow will still cover you , andit will get much darkerbecause of the clouds . Whatever the weather , a totalsolar eclipsenever fails to impress .
