2024 Solar Eclipse: When To Look Up In WI

MILWAUKEE — After weeks of hype and planning, Monday’s 2024 total solar eclipse has arrived. The phenomenon won’t be seen again for two decades.

If the weather holds, we will see a partial blockage of the sun in Milwaukee, with about 90 percent totality as the moon slips between the sun and Earth.

Here are the details:

• Partial begins: 12:52 p.m.
• Totality begins: 1:33 p.m.
• Maximum: 2:08 p.m.
• Totality ends: 2:24 p.m.
• Partial ends: 3:21 p.m.

Fifteen states are in the path of totality, which extends from Texas to Maine in the United States.

If you don’t have the necessary solar eclipse glasses to safely view the spectacle, or if the weather doesn’t cooperate, you can watch a NASA livestream from several cities along the path of totality.

A total eclipse occurs when the moon lines up perfectly between Earth and the sun at midday, blotting out the sunlight. The full eclipse will last longer than usual because the moon will be just 223,000 miles from Earth, one of the year’s closest approaches.

The moon’s shadow will slice a diagonal line from the southwest to the northeast across North America, briefly plunging communities along the track into darkness. Totality will enter the continent at Mazatlan, Mexico, and exit at Newfoundland in Canada. In between, 15 U.S. states from Texas to Maine will experience totality, including snippets of Tennessee and Michigan. It will be a repeat for Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Carbondale, Illinois, which were also in prime position for 2017’s total solar eclipse.

The closer the moon is to Earth, the bigger it is in the sky from our perspective, resulting in an especially long and intense period of sun-blocked darkness. Totality will last the longest over Mexico at 4 minutes, 28 seconds. Elsewhere along the track, like in Syracuse, New York, totality will last just 1 ½ minutes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.