Witnessing a total solar eclipse often requires extreme precision—and “99% totality” does not exist. The moon’s dark central shadow—its umbra—will move across North America on April 8 at around 1,500mph, throwing the land beneath it into darkness. In its wake will be millions of stunned onlookers fresh from seeing the sun’s wispy white corona with their naked eyes.
The umbra, however, has edges. Its projection is called the path of totality for a reason. Stand anywhere within its boundaries, and you’ll witness something utterly extraordinary. Stand to the side of the umbra—even a quarter of a mile beyond its boundaries—and you’ll merely see a partial solar eclipse, which can only be seen through solar eclipse glasses or solar viewers.
The trouble is, thousands of towns and cities in North America are either split in two by, or are on the wrong side of, the edge of the path of totality. It means they’ll only see a 99.9% partial solar eclipse—and norhing of the total solar eclipse.
Get Into The Path
The best tactic if you’re anywhere near the path’s edge—whether because you live there or because it’s the only place you could secure lodging—is to head farther into the path. It’s unnecessary to reach the centerline, where the duration of totality will be the longest in the region, but aim for at least a couple of minutes if totality. The oval shape of the moon’s shadow means that about halfway between the centerline and the edge gets you about three-quarters of the duration.
If you live in, or will be staying overnight in, any of these places—or anywhere else just outside of the path—get up seriously early and plan to spend the entire day in a location much farther into the path of totality.
So here are 15 “edge” locations that must be avoided at all costs if you’re to experience a total solar eclipse. I’ve selected only the biggest cities, but the same applies to thousands of small towns that are on the dividing line between totality—and zero totality.
Texas: San Antonio, Austin And Denton
Only the northwest suburbs of San Antonio are within the path of totality—the city center and its famous Alamo and River Walk will be outside of the path of totality and see nothing of the total solar eclipse. In Austin, the situation isn’t quite as bad, with Downtown Austin in the path, but the southeastern suburbs of the city—including the airport—are outside the path. Denton, at the far north end of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, gets a 99.95% partial solar eclipse—just travel southeast to the southern half of Lewisville Lake for a short totality.
Arkansas: Fort Smith
You can use Fort Smith, on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border, as an overnight base and travel to Mount Ida or Russellville regions. But don’t stay there on April 8 because its center gets a 99.9% partial solar eclipse. Only its southern suburbs get a short totality.
Indiana: Frankfort, Kokomo And Crawfordsville
Those on the southeast side of Kokomo, Indiana, will glimpse totality for a few seconds. Everyone else will see a 99.99% partial solar eclipse. It’s the same with the far southeast corner of Frankfort, while Crawfordsville is just inside the path but has a super-short totality.
New York: Rome And The Finger Lakes
Rome will get a frustrating 99.95% partial solar eclipse, and so will the southern reaches of some of the 11 “Finger Lakes” in New York.
99% Cities Close To The Path To Avoid
There are a lot of really big cities close to the path of totality on April 8, including St Louis, Missouri (99.1%), Fort Wayne in Indiana (99.9%), then three massive cities lined-up on the southern edge—Louisville (99.2%) in Kentucky, Cincinnati (99.7%) and Columbus (99.8%) in Ohio—as well as Ithaca in New York (99.1%).
‘Grazing Zone’
Along the edge of the path of totality a “grazing zone” exists where no-one is completely sure what will be seen. The issue is, surprisingly, the sun’s diameter, which appears to wax and wane enough for the projection of the moon’s shadow to slightly vary in width. The various maps available of the path of totality use different values for the sun’s diameter, so a location that appears to be just within the path of totality on some maps seems just outside on others.
For the latest on all aspects of April 8’s total solar eclipse in North America, check my main feed for new articles each day.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.