A solar eclipse will be passing over some of the United States, Mexico and Central and South America early this afternoon. Unfortunately, Polk County is only going to get about a half-blockage of the sun compared to a path across the western half of the country and Texas.
Polk sits in a 50% blockage range for today’s Ring of Fire Eclipse, and that might only get some notice for a fall day expected to get in the mid-70s and be partly sunny heading into a forecast with more clouds coming for Sunday and cooler temperatures on the horizon.
Lows by Monday night? Down to 39. How is that for seasonable based on the National Weather Service meteorologists predictions for the coming days.
Either way: sometime between 12:30 and 1 p.m., Polk County residents will not want to look at the sun without protective eyewear.
Though the best places to watch the eclipse won’t be anywhere nearby. Texas will be the closest spot – and the western half of that state to boot – along with areas of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada range on Saturday will get a good view of the Ring of Fire Eclipse that will strike a 125-mile path of darkness across the northern to southern hemisphere starting around noon eastern.
The solar eclipse will only be partial for Polk, along with areas of Mississippi and Alabama that are closer to the eclipse’s path across the earth.
A solar eclipse comes when the moon passes between earth and sun in the orbital dance, and are predictable due to the mechanics of the tidally locked neighbor and its position relative to the sun in earth’s annual dance around our star.
Unfortunately, Polk’s likelihood of having a direct path of a solar eclipse anytime soon is a bit out of reach. Two will be nearby in upcoming decades: 2045 and 2052. The former will bring a full eclipse over most of Mississippi and Alabama, close enough for Polk to further in the darkness range. The 2052 eclipse will pass over South Georgia after a trip up the Florida Panhandle from the Gulf, having started deep in the Pacific Ocean.
The next full eclipse? May 11, 2078.
