WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A total solar eclipse is set to plunge parts of the United States into darkness for a few minutes as the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun. This once-in-a-lifetime experience will be viewable across most of Central Texas on Monday, April 8th. We’ve covered a myriad of topics leading into Monday’s total solar eclipse, but we wanted to provide you the nuts-and-bolts of what will happen in the skies!

What is a total solar eclipse and why is it so special?

Those who have experienced totality in the past have described the moment of totality as a whole body experience in which you’ll feel your body react to the sudden change of sunlight. Your eyes will see the sun in a completely different way than you’ve ever seen before. In ideal conditions, you’d be able to see into outer space since the normal blue skies that filter out space fades away. People have described totality as jaw-dropping, eerie, and even overwhelming.

Over the course of around two-and-a-half hours on Monday, the moon will move in front of and then completely obscure the sun before pulling away.

Cities and towns that will experience a complete blockage of the sun are in what’s called ‘the path of totality’. If you’re in the path of totality, you get the full show! If you’re just outside of the path of totality, even if the sun is 99.99% obscured, your experience will be vastly different and nowhere near as spectacular as someone in the path of totality.

When will the eclipse happen?

The total solar eclipse is on Monday, April 8th, 2024. The entire Continental U.S. will be able to see at least a part of the Sun obscured by the Moon, but those in the path of totality are the big winners.

Totality stretches from the Pacific Ocean, through Texas, and eventually ending in Canada.

The moon will be pushing past the sun at a rate of roughly 1,600 MPH, and totality will start along Mexico’s west coast and exit Newfoundland over the course of just about 150 minutes!

In Central Texas, the total solar eclipse will begin shortly after 1:30 PM and exit our area just before 1:45 PM. The time spent in totality and the start time of totality varies from city to city, but most locations should see at least 3 minutes of darkness in totality while, at a maximum, totality may last for nearly four-and-a-half minutes!

If you’re in a city or town that’s not listed on the graphic above, know that the start time and duration of the eclipse will vary slightly from the nearest closest city to you. For a more specific time in your ZIP code, you find the time of totality from this interactive map on NASA’s website.

What will happen during the eclipse?

Totality may only last for about three or four minutes, but there will be changes that’ll you notice leading up to and during the time of totality.

The first time the Moon touches the edge of the Sun is called “first contact” and will happen roughly around an hour and fifteen minutes before totality occurs.

Starting roughly around 20 minutes after first contact, the amount of solar energy reaching the ground will decrease which should cause temperatures to level out.

Around 45 minutes after first contact, the brightness of the sky will start to get notably darker and especially so if cloudiness is present.

Temperatures may start to drop starting roughly 55 minutes after first contact. Your surroundings will continue to darken and colors around you may start to turn a bit more gray around one hour after first contact.

In the eight minutes leading up to totality, the increasing darkness will start to cause plants, animals, and humans to react to the changing conditions. Animals and plants may start to react as they normally would just before sunset. You may even feel a bit tired if your sleep schedule follows closely with the sun cycle.

Starting around five minutes before totality, the shadow the Moon is casting on the Earth may become visible on the horizon and especially so if you’re in an elevated vantage point.

The most spectacular part of the eclipse occurs in the seconds just before totality. Around 20 seconds ahead of totality, the corona of the Sun, which is the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, will become visible. Ten seconds before totality, the Sun’s corona will form a ring around the moon and seem to sparkle on one side like a diamond. This is, appropriately called, the diamond ring effect.

In just a few seconds before totality, sunlight will stream through the valleys along the edge of the Moon and produce an effect called Baily’s beads. In the second or two after totality starts, you could see the Sun’s chromosphere, which is a thin, red layer of the Sun’s atmosphere.

Everything that happens before totality will happen again as totality comes to a close but in reverse. Nature will start to return to normal around eight minutes after totality ends with temperatures and light levels returning to normal a little over 20 minutes after the end of totality.

Okay, but will the forecast cooperate?

Kind of?

Regardless of the sky conditions today, the total solar eclipse will be a sight to see and an experience to feel. In fact, cloudiness will give you a different experience than if you were in full daylight.

Today’s cloudiness is two-fold; low-level cloudiness is pushing in with a warm front from the southeast with high-level clouds pushing in from the southwest ahead of an approaching storm system.

We are expecting widespread and generally thick low-level clouds to hang around through lunch time. Some partial clearing of those low-level skies will occur just after lunch time, but there’s no way to determine exactly where those clouds will dissipate or stay in place. The locations most likely to hang on to low-level clouds will be near and especially west of I-35.

Although some of us may see some halfway decent viewing conditions for today’s eclipse, we’ll all be under the threat of thunderstorms late today, tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday.

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