Total Solar Eclipse Happening on Monday

The upcoming total solar eclipse in North America is scheduled for Monday, April eighth. The totality will last up to four minutes and will span across Mexico, the United States, and Canada.  For those outside the path of totality, a crescent-shaped partial eclipse will still offer a mesmerizing view. While Belize won’t experience the total phase of the eclipse, it will witness a partial solar eclipse, beginning at eleven-eighteen with the first contact between the Moon and the Sun’s edge.  We spoke with Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon, who gave us some more information.

 

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist, National Meteorological Service

“As it relates to this particular eclipse that will occur actually on Monday, the eighth of April believes is not within the path of totality, which means that we are not going to experience a total solar eclipse. However, we are going to see a partial solar eclipse. From what I’m seeing. We are going to be about forty percent of occlusion, which means that about forty percent of the sun will be covered by the moon. And that indicate that it will not be very dark. You may recall that we had an annular solar eclipse  in October of last year. And that was an eclipse in which the moon basically was within the entire part of the or entire coverage of the sun. But there was that. Ring around it because at that point, the distance between the moon and the earth was not close enough for it to entirely cover the sun. So it’s not a total eclipse, but rather described as an annular solar eclipse. In this case, there’ll be even less coverage. In other words, there’ll be even less blockage of the sun, so it will not even be as dark as it was. For the clips that we saw last year. Now, in terms of timing, the information that I have is that it will be starting around about eighteen minutes after eleven here local time. The maximum coverage will be about twelve thirty-one and by about one forty-five or so more or less. It will be all clear. Weather conditions currently, although it’s a bit far away, indicate that we’ll be under an easterly flow. There’s a possibility of isolated showers and the possibility of some cloudiness. We cannot tell for sure if at that particular time, it will be cloudy or not. It’s not possible to see that. But if it is not cloudy, and you’re able to look at the sun, which we advise you to do with specialized sunshades. You will maybe see that there’s an obstruction between the earth and the sun. You’ll see the shadow of the moon, basically, not the shadow, but the actual moon obscuring part of the sun. If you look up, if you are not able to look up with those specialized sunshades, you may not even know that there’s something covering the sun. It may look like a cloud or something, or it might be the level of darkness will not be that significant for you to know that there’s an eclipse occurring. That’s what we expect it to look like at that time.”