BATON ROUGE - On Monday, April 8th, 2024, another solar eclipse takes over skies across North America. Solar eclipses happen when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun at a position where the Moon casts a shadow on the Earth. Those caught in the path of this shadow experience the eclipse.

The path of totality will miss southeast Louisiana to the north and west. This means that local areas will not see the Moon cover the Sun completely. However, we will still be able to observe a partial solar eclipse. The partial eclipse begins at 12:28 p.m. and will end at 3:08 p.m.. The maximum eclipse will occur at 1:49 p.m. when 86% of the Sun will be obscured in the Baton Rouge area.

If you’re willing to travel, you can see the eclipse reach totality in the following nearby cities: Dallas, Waco, Austin, and Texarkana. The path of totality extends northeast toward New England.

The Northeast tends to deal with more cloud cover from a historical perspective in early April. Less cloud cover generally occurs in the South, which might be good if your plans take you to Texas or Arkansas to see the eclipse.

Please remember that eye protection is REQUIRED to view the solar eclipse. It is not safe to look at the eclipse through sunglasses, unfiltered camera lenses, telescopes, or binoculars. The intense solar energy will damage your eye’s retina without proper eye protection. In many cases, it takes hours to days until you realize the damage done.

The only safe time to look at the Sun during a solar eclipse is during the short window of maximum totality. That will not happen in Baton Rouge on April 8th, meaning that there is no safe point to look at the Sun with the naked eye.

You need special solar filters/viewers that meet “ISO 12312-2” standards for safe viewing. Before using, inspect them to ensure that they aren't scratched, punctured, or torn. You can find a list of suppliers HERE.

Of course, we will only see the eclipse as long as cloud cover permits. You can find the latest 7-day forecast and real time weather updates HERE.