NORFOLK, Va. — Much of the United States will see a total solar eclipse on Monday, where the moon will block the sun for several minutes, casting a shadow on our planet.
The eclipse will take place on April 8, passing through Mexico, the United States and Canada. NASA's 2024 eclipse map shows the totality path, or "umbra," spans in a northeasterly direction from southern Texas through parts of the Midwest and northeastern parts of the country.
Many Virginians are wondering if the Commonwealth will see the solar eclipse. The answer: Yes, but not in totality.
All of Virginia is in the "penumbra," the bigger but partial shadow from the eclipse. But the obscurity of the sunshine increases the further west or north you go, 13News Now Meteorologist Evan Stewart explained in an interview.
"If you go down across Coastal North Carolina, you're going to see less than say you're up towards Charlottesville or back towards Bristol, Virginia," Stewart explained.
Big Stone Gap in extreme southwest Virginia will see 89.% coverage and Winchester will see 90.1%, according to the NASA map. On the coast, Virginia Beach will get 77.9% coverage and Norfolk will get 78.8%.
The eclipse will begin around 2:04 p.m. on April 8 and max out around 3:20 p.m. before ending shortly after 4:32 p.m. The maximum will last a few minutes.
Those who want to travel to the path of totality will have to go a long way west or north. Some of the nearest cities to Virginia with high coverage include Indianapolis, Indiana; Dayton, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; and Buffalo, New York.
"The main path of totality is hundreds of hundreds of miles away from Hampton Roads," Stewart said.