Monday’s total lunar eclipse will cut across the continental U.S. but leave Florida in the penumbra, where the moon will only cover part of the sun. We’ll have to wait two decades before a total solar eclipse hits our region.
Though there’s a total solar eclipse that will briefly hit North Dakota and Montana in 2044, the next one to travel across the bulk of the continental U.S. won’t happen until Aug. 12, 2045.
Florida is in the perfect location. The umbra, or darkest and most dramatic inner shadow of the moon, will pass directly over South Florida. Viewers will be able to experience “totality,” or the moon completely blocking the sun.
The 2045 eclipse will first pass over northern California, then arc gradually south and east to cross Colorado, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and the Caribbean before swooping along South America’s Atlantic coast.
Florida cities within the umbra include Orlando, Tampa Bay, Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. You can view NASA’s animated map of the path of the 2045 total solar eclipse here.
There will be a number of annular eclipses, where the moon is farther away from the Earth and therefore appears smaller and does not entirely block out the sun.
Annular eclipses can be quite dramatic as well, with the black moon appearing with a bright ring around it, but none will affect South Florida before the big total solar eclipse in 2045.
Glemilsa Albornoz of Fort Lauderdale, watches the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Maji’ku Gomes, 6, of Lauderhill, watches the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A solar eclipse is seen from the balcony of the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Marcia Schwartz, of Boca Raton, adjusts her solar eclipse glasses during the “Solar Eclipse Community Viewing: Sidewalk Astronomy” event hosted by Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and its astronomical observatory on the FAU campus on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Eliza Graffin, 4, and her mom, Alisha Shannon, of Boca Raton, use homemade solar eclipse viewers made from cereal boxes during the “Solar Eclipse Community Viewing: Sidewalk Astronomy” event hosted by Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and its astronomical observatory on the FAU campus on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Ninth-grade biology students from Sheridan Hills Christian School in Hollywood, watch the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A view of the solar eclipse from Fort Lauderdale, FL at 3:10 p.m. as the moon begins to pass in front of the sun on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Scott Luxor/Contributor)
Britney Borish, a sophom*ore film major, looks for magnetically driven hurricanes on the sun using a Hydrogen Alpha telescope during the “Solar Eclipse Community Viewing: Sidewalk Astronomy” event hosted by Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and its astronomical observatory on the FAU campus on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
People watch the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Renee Gomes of Lauderhill, watches the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
People in line wait to use a telescope to view the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A view of the solar eclipse from Fort Lauderdale, FL at 2:40 p.m. as the moon begins to pass in front of the sun on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Scott Luxor/Contributor)
Shanice Torres of Fort Lauderdale, uses a telescope to watch the solar eclipse at The Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A view of the solar eclipse from Fort Lauderdale, FL as the moon begins to pass in front of the sun on Monday, April 8, 2024. (Scott Luxor/Contributor)
People waiting to watch the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Ninth-grade biology students from Sheridan Hills Christian School in Hollywood, watch the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Maria Hellwig of Pembroke Pines watches the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A solar eclipse is seen from the balcony of the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Glemilsa Albornoz of Fort Luaderdale, watches the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A sign directing people where to watch the solar eclipse at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale on Monday April 8, 2024. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
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If you happen to be out of town, or the weather is cloudy on that special day in August of 2045, all is not lost. On March 30, 2052, a total solar eclipse will cut across central Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico and then northern Florida, casting its umbra across Pensacola, Tallahassee, Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina — a good excuse for a road trip.
