Getting Ready For The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse?
As we all prepare for the 2024 total solar eclipse that will cross the United States I am happy to report that Version 4 of Solar Eclipse Timer is now releaed and ready.!
All previous users of the app must update to Verison 4 of the app so that you have the must accurrate timing. The Delta-T which is a number that is used in the contact time calculations has been updated in Version 4.
Just less than 7 years since the 2017 eclipse that crossed the United States form Oregon to South Carolina, the United States will be in the path of a toalt solar eclipse again! This time the path will cross from Texas to Maine. The fact the the U.S. is lucky enough to have these "crossing" eclipses is due to the long term synchronization of the orbits of the Earth and the Moon is something called the saros cycle. Read my detailed explanation of this in the AccuWeather article I wrote HERE.
The 2024 total solar eclipse will be wonderful because it is a very long duration totality. The duration at the beginning of the path in Texas is 4m 26s. The duration stays above 4 minutes all the way into Indiana.
When the eclipse exits the U.S. in Maine the duration is still 3m 21s. This is great! Remember, the maximum duration of the 2017 eclipse was 2m 40s in the region of Kentucky at the Point of Greatest Eclipse.
In 2024 the Point of Greatest Eclipse is located in Mexico.
The biggest issue with the 2024 eclipse is the fact that it occurs in early April and that has a huge impact on the weather patterns across the U.S.
Any section of the path is at risk for poor weather on that day. This base map in this graphic is by Jay Anderson and shows the predicted risk of clouds cover. Using the scale to the right you can see that the chances of clear skies is better in the southwest and gets more risky as you head to the northeast. I have added the circles, lines and descriptions for clarity.
For example look as this screen capture of the weather patterns over the U.S. on March 14, 2021. A huge storm was over the central U.S. covering the entire path of the eclipse! And because of the usual direction of the movement of weather systems in the U.S. this weather system continued to track along the path. A day like this, on eclipse day, could be a disaster!
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