Will I See The Total Solar Eclipse In Sussex County?

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ — Excitement is building in Hopatcong and Sparta for the April 8 total solar eclipse. We’re not among some 32 million Americans living in the path of totality, but neither will we miss out on the celestial sensation.

In the United States, the path of totality extends from Texas to Maine, but each of the 48 continental states will see some of the solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon slips between our bright star and Earth. In Hopatcong and Sparta, the moon will cover about 91.9 percent of the sun at the peak of the eclipse, according to a NASA map that is searchable by ZIP code.

Here are the details:

• Partial eclipse begins: 2:10 p.m.
• Totality begins: 2:51 p.m.
• Maximum: 3:25 p.m.
• Totality ends: 3:58 p.m.
• Partial ends: 4:36 p.m.

The eclipse will last 2 hours and 26 minutes from beginning to end in Hopatcong and Sparta.

Right now, it looks like we could have a chance of rain and heavy cloud cover for the big event.

The total solar eclipse starts in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, as well as small parts of Tennessee and Michigan, before entering Canada in southern Ontario through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton before exiting continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Only about 12 million people lived in the path of totality in the 2017 Great American Eclipse.

This year, people living in areas farther away from the path of totality, including everywhere in the continental U.S., will see a less dramatic blockage of the sun. How much of the sun will be obscured depends on how far they are from the path of totality. The northwest corner of the state of Washington, for example, will see only about 16 percent totality. Click this link for eclipse totality by city.

It will be March 30, 2033, before another total solar eclipse touches the United States, and that’s only on the tip of Alaska. It’ll be Aug. 12, 2044, before the next eclipse sweeps across the lower 48 states, with parts of Montana and North Dakota experiencing totality.

Related articles —

• The 2024 Great American Solar Eclipse Is A Really Big Deal: Here's Why
• Animals May Behave Oddly During Eclipse
• You Must Protect Your Eyes, Regardless Of Eclipse Totality: What You Need

Patch's national desk contributed to this report.