When the skies darken in Western Washington mid-morning Monday, Aug. 21 – don’t’ panic. It’s just part of the solar eclipse that will cross America coast to coast for the first time in 100 years.
In the northwest, sky-gazers will find the total eclipse through central Oregon, where nearly 1 million visitors are expected to gather in campgrounds, state parks and festivals to awe at the celestial event amid some of state’s most beautiful landscapes.
For those in Washington not making the journey through soon-to-be jammed highways down to Oregon, you won’t completely miss out as the sun, moon and planet earth align.
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The Seattle area will get a partial solar eclipse, when the moon obscures the sun by nearly 92 percent. The rest of the state will also have about the same conditions, with the darkened sky peaking around 10:20 a.m.
Though the spectacle will be observed (through protective glasses and equipment, read about that below) best if skies are clear, people will still notice a great darkening of the sky during the eclipse peak even if it's cloudy.
>> See an interactive map here
“During the eclipse in our area — despite not having totality — it will get eerily dark outside, which is especially strange and other-worldly when it was otherwise a sunny morning,” said KIRO 7 Meteorologist Morgan Palmer. “I experienced a 60 percent eclipse back in 1991 and that was weird. This is 92 percent in Seattle… this will be REALLY weird.”
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“It is common to hear birds chirping and going to roost in the middle of the day because they suddenly think it’s dusk. The temperature could also actually decrease a few degrees during the eclipse in areas of totality and [places] close like we are,” Palmer said, who is going to Oregon for the event.
KIRO 7 News will have coverage on the solar eclipse as it passes through the event. Follow Morgan Palmer and his journey to Oregon on Twitter.
It’s too early to know if clouds will obstruct the view during the event, but if that’s the case eclipse glasses will be useless.
But don’t confuse a cloudy day with a smoky one. If the sky is still cloaked from smoke drifting into Western Washington from B.C. wildfires, the haze won’t further obstruct the eclipse so much as just dim it.
>> Related: Fake eclipse glasses ‘flooding' market, astronomy group says
If the sun is out, eclipse glasses will be needed – even if looking through a telescope.
KIRO 7 News talked to Dr. Russell Van Gelder, chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington and director of the UW Medicine Eye Institute. He showed how the sun can burn a person’s eye and smartphone camera in seconds.
Some glasses claiming to protect from damage by the solar eclipse are fake. The glasses should be made by vendors on the American Astronomical Society's list not just any seller online who can make a replica, and the glasses should have a special stamp.
>> Related: How to protect your eyes and camera during eclipse
"You have to look for the stamp that says ISO 12312-2. That's the international certification that these are safe to use in the eclipse," Van Gelder said. "If you don't see this, I wouldn't trust the glasses."
The solar eclipse is a big deal for many reasons, but for many it’s simply an awe-inspiring natural phenomenon that’s an experience of a lifetime. Will you be traveling to Oregon? Tell us why you’re traveling here.