After a seven-year gap, a total solar eclipse is once again due to make a coast-to-coast run across North America, boosting popular interest (and airfares) to astronomical proportions.
The track of totality for the April 8 eclipse doesn’t come anywhere close to the Pacific Northwest. That’s in contrast to the 2017 total solar eclipse, when the moon’s shadow crossed the Oregon coast to begin its continent-spanning sweep.
You can still get in on the thrill of the event. It’s not too late to book a last-minute trip to someplace within driving distance of the total eclipse’s path, which stretches from Mexico up through Texas and the Midwest to the northeastern U.S. and Atlantic Canada. It’s just going to cost you.
Outside the track of totality, a partial solar eclipse will be visible throughout Canada, Mexico and the Lower 48 states. That’s assuming skies are clear, which is nowhere near a sure thing for the Pacific Northwest in April. Even if the sun is visible, you’ll want to make sure you see the eclipse safely.
There’s one almost surefire way to catch totality, and that’s to watch it online. It’s no substitute for experiencing darkness at midday in person, but it’s a no-muss, no-fuss, low-cost way to get in on the action. And it might well whet your appetite for the next eclipse opportunity.
Here are further details about the three main options:
Hit the road
Hardcore eclipse fans started making their travel reservations years ago — and whether you’re heading for Austin, Texas, or Rochester, N.Y., you’re likely to find that prices are sky-high.
Total solar eclipses occur when the sun, moon and Earth are lined up so precisely that the moon blots out the entire disk of the sun, creating a spot-shaped shadow that measures roughly 115 miles wide and races eastward as the sun moves westward in the sky.
Thousands of eclipse-watchers will be flocking to that relatively narrow band of real estate for the big day, driving up the price of travel. Take Dallas, for example: The lowest fare for a SEA-DFW round-trip flight bracketing April 8, with no more than one intermediate stop each way, is more than $1,000. Nonstops are more than $2,000. In comparison, your typical SEA-DFW nonstop could be less than $500 a week later.
Hotel rates are going up as well: Last week, Amadeus reported a 76% rise in Dallas’ nightly rates for the eclipse time frame — and noted a rise of more than 300% in places that are farther from the beaten track, such as Poplar Bluff, Mo.; and Burlington, Vt.
Rental cars are becoming harder to come by in the eclipse zone — and getting around is sure to become harder as well. Eclipse cartographer Michael Zeiler projects that roughly 1 million to 4 million people will be traveling from outside the track of totality to inside the line, and as many as a million of those visitors are expected to target Texas.
Even NASA is concerned about the traffic tie-ups. “We want to make sure that we’re looking out for the pedestrians,” Jim Free, the agency’s associate administrator, said today during an eclipse preview. “Please don’t just stop on the side of the road. It’s really important to make sure that we stay focused on everyone around us. People are probably going to be stopped, and so be careful.”
Just look up
Staying put at home is one way to beat the eclipse traffic, and dodge the travel costs as well. The downside is that you’ll miss out on experiencing totality in the flesh — and if the weather doesn’t cooperate, you could miss out on the whole event.
The weather forecast for the Seattle area doesn’t offer a lot of hope on that score. According to the Weather Channel, skies will be partly cloudy on April 8, with a chance of rain.
That forecast could change, perhaps for the better, as we get closer to the big day — so it’s prudent to have your eclipse glasses at the ready. Gazing at the sun during a partial eclipse can cause lasting eye damage unless you take protective measures.
It’s still possible to order eclipse glasses online for delivery by next week, but make sure you get them from a certified supplier rather than a scammer. For guidance, check out the American Astronomical Society’s website.
Branches of the Seattle Public Library have been distributing free eclipse glasses on a first-come, first-served basis to patrons who ask for them. Before you head out to your local branch, call ahead to make sure the glasses are still available.
You can also observe the partial eclipse indirectly by making a pinhole camera or just folding your fingers together.
Whatever you do, don’t expect a life-changing spectacle. As seen from Seattle, the partial solar eclipse will last from 10:39 a.m. to 12:21 p.m. PT on April 8, and at its peak, the moon’s disk will cover less than a third of the sun’s disk. It’ll look as if someone has taken a bite out of the sun — but not that big of a bite. If you didn’t know the eclipse was happening, you probably wouldn’t notice.
Watch it online
NASA has taken notice: The space agency is going wall-to-wall with online eclipse coverage from more than a dozen locales along the track of totality, running from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT.
“We will have telescope feeds as well as experts talking about the science of the eclipse and other science that NASA does with the sun,” Kelly Korreck, NASA program manager for the solar eclipse, told GeekWire. “We will be located in 13 different ‘sunspots.’ A sunspot on the sun is a place of intense magnetic activity, and so we’re going to have some intense activity around eclipses in the sunspots along the path.”
In addition to the online festivities, there’ll be live events at the “sunspot” sites — ranging from Kerrville, Texas, to Houlton, Maine, with the Cotton Bowl and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in between. Check out NASA’s news release for the full schedule and video links.
San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum is getting in on the action as well, with livestreams from Texas and Mexico starting at 10 a.m. PT. Other webcasts will be available from TimeAndDate.com and the University of Maine.
If you totally miss out on the total eclipse, don’t fret: There’ll be other opportunities to embrace the darkness — that is, if you’re willing to travel. The next total solar eclipse will trace a path from the Arctic across the Atlantic to northern Spain in 2026. And the next opportunity to see totality across a coast-to-coast swath of the U.S. will come in 2045.
