Locally not as dramatic as the eclipse of 2017, which obscured almost 90 percent of the sun in Flagler County and its cities, Monday’s solar eclipse will obscure 60 to 61 percent of it at peak, just past 3 p.m., in Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell.
The National Weather Service in Jacksonville predicts only partly sunny and somewhat windy conditions in the Flagler County area.
Flagler County and its cities will see a partial eclipse for 2 hours 31 minutes. The eclipse in Palm Coast will start at 1:47 p.m., a minute later in Flagler Beach, peak at 3:04 pm., and end at 4:19 p.m. It’ll end a minute earlier in Bunnell. See where and how much of the sun will be eclipsed by zip code here and here.
The solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 blocked 88.6 percent of the sun at its peak in Flagler Beach, 89 percent in the Hammock and North Palm Coast, and 88 percent in Espanola. The path of the total eclipse arced from between Eugene and Portland, Ore., to Charleston, S.C. Locally the eclipse drew swarms of azimuth-angled gazers on Flagler Beach’s boardwalk, city sidewalks, front and back yards.
It also drew photographers, some of them armed with telescopes, like Scott Spradley, the Flagler Beach attorney who has since been elected commissioner in that city. (He does not attribute his win to the eclipse.) Spradley set up his telescope with a viewing board that allowed people to safely see the eclipse sharply refracted on the board as it progressed, no goggles necessary. Nearby Tortugas restaurant handed out viewing glasses, but those ran out quickly. Ohers brought welder masks or homemade glasses.
“My Dad, Scott Spradley, Sr., gave me a telescope, an Edmonton 6 inch reflector, for my birthday in 1967,” Spradley said on Sunday. “That marked the beginning of my interest in astronomy, solar and lunar events, and ultimately, photography. Although my Dad passed away from illness soon after that, I had great enjoyment from that telescope through high school. I still recall with great detail my grandfather driving me and two friends from Shelby, North Carolina, where we lived, to somewhere deep within South Carolina to experience the path of totality of a solar eclipse in March 1970. So with that historical backdrop, whenever I am in the area of a solar or lunar eclipse, I always make it a priority to try to observe it, as I will Monday.”
One of Spradley’s two friends was Scott Evans. He had not seen him in 50 years–until today, when, right after Spradley posted pictures from the 2017 eclipse on his Facebook page, Evans wrote him below: “Remember when your granddad took us to see an eclipse in SC when we were in jr high? Fond memory.”
“Maybe,” Spradley thought afterward, “there is some magic with this whole eclipse business.”
It isn’t for nothing that eclipses have inspired petroglyphs, lore, legends, fear and awe going back thousands of years. “A strange midday darkness moved across much of the North American continent yesterday as the sun, the moon and the earth fell into alignment for a solar eclipse, one of nature’s rarest spectacles,” John Noble Wilford wrote in The New York Times the day after the 1970 eclipse, the first in the United States since 1925.
Spradley this time will be toggling between his desk and the sidewalk outside his law office at 301 South Central Avenue, if you want to stop by.
The 1970 eclipse followed a slightly more southern route than Monday’s. This time, Helios’s chariot will be totally eclipsed as it travels in a swath from just south of Baja California in Mexico a little before 1 p.m., across East Texas, the Midwest, Niagara Falls then onto the northeast reaches of Canada and the Gulf of St. Laurence at a little before 5 p.m. A solar eclipse happens when the moon comes between Earth and the sun. The moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, but since it is also 400 times closer to Earth than the sun, exact alignment of moon and sun creates the impression that they are the same size.
Monday’s will be one such total solar eclipse, as opposed to an annular eclipse, when the Moon is further away from Earth, and so too small, in relation to the sun, to entirely block the sun’s rays. If you are lucky enough to be in an area darkened by the total eclipse, you will, at totality–the point at which the moon blocks off the sun entirely–be able to safely look directly at the astral phenomenon. It will last from only two to four minutes, depending on where you are. Your surroundings will be as dark as the night, and you will feel a chill.
Outside of totality–and that includes the entire duration of the partial eclipse in Flagler County–if you look directly at the sun, you could permanently damage your eyes: your eyes can get burnt, the damage leaving black spots, blurred vision, distortions and sensitivity that can be either permanent or take up to a year to resolve.
Assuming with a considerable degree of optimism that the world has not ended by then, the next total solar eclipses will take place on August 12, 2026 and on Aug. 2, 2027. But the 2026 eclipse will only grace the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula before it goes out to sea through the North Atlantic, briefly flirting with the far western fjords of Iceland before darkening the melting eastern flank of Greenland for a couple of hours as it travels north.
In 2027, the eclipse will be more of a Club Med affair. It will take a cruise-like path through the strait of Gibraltar–Helios meets the Pillars of Hercules–then along the north African Mediterranean coast, over its Heliopolis namesake (Cairo), south through the Red Sea’s pearls, parts of the Arabian Peninsula, including a flirtation with Mecca and Medina, the Horn of Africa, then off into the Indian Ocean where it will sunset.
It will not be until 2033 that any part of the United States will experience a total eclipse, and even then, only across the least hospitable parts of north and west Alaska, curving from the around the Prudhoe Bay oil fields to the Bering Strait.
Pogo says
@Proof…
…that real life is often better than the best fiction.
Thank you.
JimboXYZ says
Carry on with your life on Monday, it’ll be over for the +/-3 hours of afternoon sunlight for the 4/8/2024 eclipse has. The solar eclipse isn’t nearly as impressive as a full moon that happens every monthly cycle that isn’t as dangerous as a solar eclipse. Wear your sunglasses if you have to be out during the day, try to eliminate angles of reflection that might be similar as staring directly at a solar eclipse. Don’t be stupid with your eyesight & vision. My prediction, you’re going to be disappointed with a 2024 solar eclipse, just like everything else that has happened under Biden-Harris. The 2017 Trump-Pence solar eclipse was 88+%, while the 2024 Biden-Harris solar eclipse is 60+%. Even solar eclipses are subject to Biden-Harris inflation, don’t get your money’s worth for a show.
Steve says
Get s life Ridiculous Political Bullshit always
Yawn says
You’re showing your lack of education. You have zero clue what causes inflation. I actually have a degree in economics so we can go at it all day if you want and you’ll be wrong EVERY time.
Bet you didn’t see a new report came out that said 100% of businesses supplying goods and food were using COVID supply numbers from 2020 to keep their prices inflated. 100%. Do Biden/Harris own 100% of businesses? Are they leaders of EVERY country on the planet that has worse inflation than the US? In fact, because of this Dem administration and DESPITE the price gouging by companies, the US has recovered faster than ANY, yes ANY nation on the entire planet. We have record low unemployment. Record high job growth (all jobs after mid-2021 were no longer Covid jobs coming back, they were NEW jobs). Biden brought computer chip manufacturing back to America. His infrastructure act is replacing lead pipes, expanding internet access to all communities, fixing roads, and so on. The stock market keeps breaking records.
The economy, despite all the bad actors trying to ruin our country, like companies keeping prices high because of greed and gas going back up (Saudi’s are decreasing oil production again which will raise gas prices, and you’d think they’d stop since it’s obvious what they do and why, but people like you Dumbo, blame Biden because you listen to garbage on Fox), is strong. More people are working now than at any time under the orange turd. Mad that cereal is expensive? Direct your ire toward General Mills or whatever brand you buy. The president doesn’t control what businesses charge. America doesn’t work that way, Dumbo. Mad that eggs are expensive and chickens and milk and soon red meat? Educate yourself. Bird flu is wrecking havoc on both industries right now. Culling millions of birds will do that. Comes unable to milk while they have the virus in their udders will do that. Chocolate and all thins with cocoa will be going up soon too because torrential floods damaged most of the cocoa crop in the top two nations that produce cocoa. But like everything else, you’ll blame Biden because people like you don’t live in reality.
Based on your logic Dumbo, the fact that all my appliances died over the last three months is Biden’s fault, and the cost of replacing them is also Biden’s fault, and when I hurt my knee it’s Biden fault, and homeowners insurance at $7,000 is Biden’s fault, and the sun not shining is Biden’s fault….only a Dumbo would believe all that and then take a scientific event like the eclipse and look like a donkey’s backside bringing politics into the mix.
Save us all the trouble Dumbo, and educate yourself not using memes, gifs, and blogs done by Russians. But then again, the Russians know who will fall for their propaganda…guess it’s you Comrade Dumbo.
JimboXYZ says
Here’s just one thing he’s doing to all of us. EV’s are 8% of new vehicle sales. He’s forcing EV’s down our throats. You don’t think as POTUS Biden couldn’t have issued an executive order to keep gouging at a minimum, I mean if FL can protect consumer from price gouging after a hurricane, I would think Biden could do that for a post-pandemic ? Trump did, used the Defense Production Act (DPA). Instead Biden diverted billions to foreign governments in yet another disappointing border crisis failure, like the Obama-Biden cages. Please enjoy the rest of your Monday watching your Biden-Harris eclipse with your economics degree.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-newest-rule-auto-emissions-153000824.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/car-good-luck-keeping-bidens-091209528.html
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/489125-trump-signs-executive-order-to-prevent-price-gouging-of-medical/
T says
Jimbo a trump cult follower no reasoning for logic
T says
Jimbo lol you make me laugh trump lovers are slow
Steve says
See you in Roevenber get your tissues ready trump humper
Marlee says
Watch Through Eyes of NASA
NASA will host live coverage of the eclipse starting at 1 p.m. EDT. The agency’s eclipse coverage will include live views of the eclipse from across North America, special appearances by NASA experts, astronauts aboard the space station, and an inside look at NASA’s eclipse science experiments and watch parties across the country.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/how-to-watch-upcoming-total-solar-eclipse-with-nasa-from-anywhere/
Laurel says
Saw it today, kinda cool but there is nothing like totality. In 2017, I got some fun pictures of what an eclipse looks like through a colander. Not so much today. I think it was 1970 that I saw a total solar eclipse in south Florida. Now that was cool!
TR says
I have a question about the eclipse. I was taught at a young age never look directly at the sun because the UV rays can damage your eyesight. So I never did it. Today’s eclipse is the moon passing in front of the sun and blocking the UV rays. So if that’s the case why is it so dangerous to look at the eclipse directly during the time of the eclipse? I would appreciate a logical explanation. Thanks.
Laurel says
TR: It’s best to look up your answer on NASA’s or another scientific website, but I’ll give it an uneducated guess. People do take off their (approved) eclipse glasses only during the full blockage of the sun during a totality event. A totality event is when 100% of the sun is covered by the moon from where you are standing. This gives you the opportunity to see the sun’s flairs, which are not as intense, or dangerous to the eyes. Here, in our area, we only saw a 60% coverage, meaning that 40% of the sun’s powerful rays could still damage our eyes. When the moon begins to move away from the 100% coverage, the glasses must be put back on again.
It’s not just UV rays, it’s the intensity of the rays, which can burn your retinas doing permanent damage.
James says
From the “What you can’t see CAN hurt you,” department.
You’re under the false impression that since most of the “body” of the sun appears blocked that less light is reaching earth… this is not the case, even if you were under the very middle of the moon’s shadow… which we weren’t.
I happened to be going outside yesterday at the very time of the eclipse. All I noticed was a slight dimming of sunlight, as one one would experience if clouds had passed overhead.
I thought to myself, “what the heck,” went back into the garage and grabbed a pair of welding goggles and went out and looked up though them for a second… no good, wrong type… those were for oxyacetylene welding. In the back of my mind I had remembered this fact from somewhere. Hence, the reason why I only glanced through them at the eclipse for a moment… by the way, the light from the sun was, for the most part, still clearly evident through them and you wouldn’t be able to note the eclipse effect.
I then ran and picked up my other welding shield… the one for arc welding. Again, looking through them only for a brief second… success… I could in that brief instance clearly discern the eclipse effect (btw, the effect viewed though the arc welding shield was a green crescent).
That second was enough for me, and I went back to what I was going to do… go grocery shopping.
What was to be learned from this story?
That although it’s a nice, useful way of explaining what an eclipse is, illustrations of what is happening give a false sense of what a person will experience from their point of observation… that in fact, there is very little shielding effect from the sun’s rays for most, if not all, viewers of an eclipse… even for those within the moon’s shadow. That not even an arc welding shield should be trusted for any length of prolonged exposure. That the light from the sun is a vast spectrum and has to be “dulled down” in it’s entirety… not selectively… and with exposure time always taken into account.
And also, it’s really dangerous to arc weld… always wear protective gear.
Just say’n.
Frank maxwell says
It was beyond spectacular at Jay Peak, VT. Pink Talking Fish played Dark side of the Moon then Here comes the sun…..