Total Solar Eclipse / Hill Country (April 2024)
Overview
The next total solar eclipse to visit North America comes on April 8, 2024. The duration of totality will be up to 4 minutes and 27 seconds, almost double that of The Great American Eclipse of August 21, 2017.
The centerline of the eclipse enters Texas, and the U.S., as it crosses the Rio Grande River at the Mexico-U.S. border at approximately 12:10 PM CDT, with totality beginning in that location at about 1:27PM CDT.
As the eclipse exits Mexico and enters the U.S., traveling through the Texas Hill Country, the eclipse will have already reached its "point of greatest duration," that singular spot along every total solar eclipse centerline where the duration of totality is longer than anywhere else.
That point is also the duration of totality "tipping point," meaning that the duration gradually increases along the centerline up until that point and then starts to decrease on the other side. In other words, for the 2024 eclipse, the duration of totality is all downhill in the U.S., with the longest durations in Texas and the shortest in Maine. Therefore, the path of totality in Texas will be considered a prime viewing destination on April 8.
Texas is also widely considered to have the best eclipse-day weather prospects in the country.
More specifically, eclipse weather forecasting site eclipsophile.com points out that, in Texas, "the north [or west] side of the track has a notably sunnier April climate than the south [or east]." In general, the farther south you are for this eclipse, the better your weather odds. And you can't get any farther south along the path of totality in the U.S. than Texas.
The club plans to travel to the Hill Country to observe the eclipse because historically, there is a lower likelihood of cloudiness the further west and north you go along the eclipse track; see the diagram at right.
NOTE: This page will be updated with additional information as we get closer to the event.
General Information Resources
Photography Resources
If you have any questions about this event, please contact Club President David Swinney.