A solar eclipse is coming to the United States 12 days from today.
I’ve written about eclipses before, and it seems like I’ve jinxed it every time. I wrote about the eclipses back in 2014 and 2015 when the United States had four different eclipses. That included two partial solar eclipses and two total lunar eclipses. There was also a total solar eclipse that was only visible around the North Pole, but we obviously couldn’t see that one.
And in each of those instances, I think the weather was terrible for each of them.
During the 2014 partial solar eclipse across the United States, the Southeastern United States was supposed to be able to see the solar eclipse at near sunset. Lucky for me that it got very cloudy as the sun began to set. Thus, it ruined my opportunity to see it against the horizon.
Then, we had a total lunar eclipse early in the morning as the sun was about to rise. Guess what? It was raining. I even woke up early to see if I could see it, but of course, there was no part of the sky not covered by clouds.
So here we go again. Here in Mississippi, we are going to have a partial solar eclipse a week from this Monday. So what are the chances of seeing it here? My guess is that it’s probably close to 50-50. The better odds of no clouds are out west.
But I have a feeling I could even cause a problem out there.
If we do happen to miss the eclipse, we’ll get our next opportunity on April 8, 2024. That eclipse will come about as close as this one is coming, except, it will cover areas from Dallas to Niagara Falls. In fact, it will have a large range from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to several hundred miles northeast of Fiji.
Let’s hope that my streak doesn’t continue.
Contact Brent at bmaze@-newtoncountyappeal.com.
