Path from Southern Texas to Northeast Maine to get total darkness for a few minutes, but locally the light will just dim
Eclipse mania across the country is going to reach its zenith this afternoon as the moon crosses the sun and leads to total darkness during the middle of the day for portions of the country.
Polk County will only experience a “partial” eclipse on Monday, with the peak coming around 3:06 p.m. as 84% of the sun will be covered by the moon instead of the totality that 31+ million Americans will experience this afternoon.
The path begins in southwest Texas after it crosses the border with Mexico a few minutes before 1 p.m. Central, and crosses Arkansas, Missouri, the upper Midwest and Northeast before crossing Maine into Canada around 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Major cities from San Antonio to Syracuse will get to experience total darkness for just over four minutes today.
Keep track of the eclipse path here at Nasa.gov
The local forecast for the eclipse per Weather.com is for the chance for some clouds in the sky that could block the whole event for Polk County. The high for today is 79.
If the weather cooperates and Polk does get to experience the partial eclipse, do not look up at the sun without proper viewers or glasses that are rated for safely viewing the solar event. Sunglasses do not offer enough protection to directly look at the sun during the eclipse.
Since Polk doesn’t get the full effect of totality and the visible corona of the sun visible for a brief few minutes, those glasses need to stay on the whole time of the eclipse. Make sure to supervise young children closely.
Those who don’t get the chance to step outdoors for the eclipse have viewing options available online, including this one from NASA.
Polk was close to the path of the last total eclipse back in August 2017, when it went over dozens of states including northeast Georgia during the event that stretched from Oregon to South Carolina.
Eclipses are common as rotations of the Earth and Moon around the sun provide predictable opportunities to see a variety of orbital events happening around the globe. Several more are expected over the coming years across the globe in various latitudes from the far northern reaches of Russia to the frozen southern pole of Antarctica. However it’ll be 20 years before an eclipse comes close to Polk again.
An eclipse in 2045 will cross California, the western U.S. and through the southeast before it crosses Florida to points elsewhere on August 12 in two decades time. It’ll be another partial eclipse locally, but the path of totality crosses Southwest Georgia from Alabama to North Florida.
Another will follow on March 30, 2052 that crosses south Georgia again, leading to a fourth partial eclipse in this century for Polk County.
