Clouds and rain step in the way of Saturday's partial Solar Eclipse
Kalamazoo, Michigan — The countdown to this year's annular Solar Eclipse is officially underway!
Unfortunately, our weather in West Michigan will not be cooperating.
We'll dive into our weekend weather in a moment.
Annular, at its essence, means ring-shaped. This eclipse won't be a total eclipse. Instead, the moon leaves a small ring where the sun will still be visible.
The peak viewing stretches from Oregon and Nevada to New Mexico and Texas.
The prospect of rain, and potentially a lot of rain, makes eclipse viewing just about impossible in the Mitten. Better viewing resides in parts of Ohio, eastern Kentucky, and farther south in Tennessee.
Whether you're in the best viewing path or not, you absolutely must wear special Solar Eclipse glasses. Cameras, binoculars, and telescopes will have to be equipped with a solar filter in front of their lens.
The following times are specific to Kalamazoo:
- Partial Eclipse begins: 11:41 a.m.
- Maximum or Peak Eclipse (where the sun is hidden the most): 1:00 p.m.
- Partial Eclipse ends: 2:23 p.m.
Viewers should look in their southeastern sky, initially, followed by their southern sky and finish viewing in the south-southwestern sky.
Saturday's eclipse is kind of rare in that it has to transpire when there is a new moon. The sun, moon, and earth all align, making a normally tough to see new moon visible against the backdrop of the sun.
There will be a lunar eclipse on March 25, 2024 and a partial solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.
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