Solar Eclipse - May 20

Later this month, a solar eclipse will take place, visible across the northern Pacific and the western United States.  This will be the first solar eclipse visible from the continental U.S. since 1994, showing how rare these events can be.  This particular solar eclipse is called an annual solar eclipse.  This means that at no point will the sun be totally obscured by the moon; instead, the outer edge of the sun will be visible as the moon passes in front of the sun.  This is because the moon will be relatively far from Earth, and thus appear smaller relative to the sun.  In a total solar eclipse, the entire disk of the sun is obscured by the moon, and occurs when the moon is relatively close to Earth.

The May 20 eclipse will peak along the path shown on the map (on the right), so far northern California into Nevada will see the moon directly over the sun.  The path is quite narrow, which illustrates the rarity of any one location experiencing the peak of an eclipse.  Here in San Francisco, the eclipse will start around 5:15 p.m. local time and peak around 6:30 p.m., so the sun will be low in the western sky.  At its peak, over 80% of the sun will be obscured by the moon as viewed from San Francisco - definitely not an event to miss!  Of course we also need clear skies to see this event, and often in the late evening we have fog rolling into the city.  Going just a few miles inland though should offer good viewing without fog, though.  Here's some more detailed information on the upcoming eclipse.

A total solar eclipse will occur on August 21, 2017 with a long, narrow path of totality across the United States, from Oregon southeastward all the way to South Carolina.  All of North America will see at least a partial eclipse during this event.

In the meantime, another nice weekend coming up for the Bay Area - mostly sunny with highs in the 70s near the coast and bays and 80s inland.