Europe’s first eclipse in decades is happening on Wednesday, bringing the spectacle of total daytime darkness to parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain, and a partial eclipse to much of the rest of the continent.
But ill-timed clouds, wildfire smoke or storm systems could put a damper on the thrill for locals and for the millions of travelers hoping to catch a glimpse of the celestial phenomenon.
Use the table below to find when the eclipse will be visible and what the weather might be like.
How will weather affect your view of the eclipse?
Forecasts for the evening of Aug. 12
| Location | Cloudcover | Partialeclipse timing | Eclipseobscuration |
|---|
Loading city weather data
In places that will experience a total eclipse, totality will last around two minutes only. A partial eclipse, in which only part of the moon obscures the sun, will last about an hour or two in those areas.
If weather is good, eclipse viewers could be treated to extra features: The Perseid meteor shower, visible after nightfall, peaks in mid August. Those in Iceland or Greenland could also see the northern lights.
For those unable to make the trip to view the eclipse — or whose viewings are foiled by bad weather — six more total eclipses are on the way in the next decade, almost all in the eastern hemisphere.
After not having seen a total solar eclipse for more than a century, mainland Spain will see two in two years. The country’s next eclipse will be in August 2027. That eclipse will then cross North Africa, parts of the Arabian Peninsula and the tip of Somalia before ending over the Indian Ocean.
Sources and notes
Weather forecast table Timing calculations are rounded to the nearest minute and use a fixed elevation value (sea level). In cities outside of the path of totality, percentage coverage has been capped at 99.9 percent. Where the eclipse will coincide with the sunset, the end time given is when the bottom edge of the sun will touch the horizon. Weather forecasts come from Tomorrow.io. Eclipse timing and obscuration comes from the NASA Javascript Solar Eclipse Explorer.
Eclipse maps All times are local. Eclipse data comes from the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio. Future eclipse paths come from the Canon of Solar Eclipses Database, and map data comes from Natural Earth.
