Tips for the eclipse
With the solar eclipse two weeks away, planning for the best seats around New England is kicking into high gear. Here are some tips.
The eclipse is set to plunge a long arc of North America into darkness on April 8, including a stretch of the Northeast from New York to Maine. It is expected to be another 20 years before another total eclipse passes through the contiguous U.S., according to NASA.
The path of “totality,” where the sun will be completely blocked, is 115 miles wide, according to NASA. This path includes swaths of New York, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. Areas in states including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island will see a partial eclipse.
Weather will be a major factor for those looking to plan how they’ll view the eclipse — and is so far uncertain. The biggest concern for many in April is the higher probability of clouds, in addition to potentially wet, snowy and muddy seasonal weather for the area.
“There’s not really much to say about what specific viewing conditions can be like yet, but we can talk about it climatologically for April, and it’s kind of a 50-50 split,” said Stephen Baron, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Maine. … “Looking at cloud climatology, for a lot of those towns, there’s really two options: its going to be overcast, or its going to be clear. And obviously we hope for the clear day.”
The Gray — Portland, Maine office of the National Weather Service has launched a page dedicated to tracking weather updates around the eclipse. The page includes seasonal averages for towns along the eclipse path and will be updated with forecasts as the eclipse nears.