SACRAMENTO, California — The “ring of fire” annular solar eclipse will be moving over California on Saturday morning, but there may be a problem — clouds are in the forecast.
The "ring of fire" eclipse will be the last of its kind in the U.S. until 2039, although there will be a total solar eclipse in April.
While the path of the eclipse will only clip the far northeastern corner of the state as it travels from Oregon to Texas, the rest of Northern California will have a near front row set to the event — that is if the clouds don’t ruin the show.
Due to a weak cold front pushing through the state, cloud cover will be present on Saturday morning when the eclipse is happening in Northern California.
The National Weather Service forecast is calling for 55% cloud cover in Sacramento from 8 – 11 a.m. In Sacramento, over 80% of the sun will be covered by the moon on Saturday morning with the eclipse starting at 8:05 a.m., peaking at 9:20 a.m., and ending at 10:43 a.m.
Cloud cover will be more patchy further south of Sacramento and will increase to the north.
During this rare eclipse, the moon is moving between the Earth and the sun but it still appears slightly smaller than the sun so it can't block it entirely. The result is a glowing fiery ring, hence the name “ring of fire."
Even if clouds are present, the sky will darken in a similar fashion as the 2017 total solar eclipse, creating eerie conditions on Saturday morning.
For those interested in viewing the eclipse (even if clouds are present), the following locations are offering viewing events:
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