On Monday, millions of people across the United States and Canada will get to see a total solar eclipse. You probably won’t.
(We first published this article at the end of March and have made minor updates to this version, republished on Monday.)
If you’re reading this in northern Canada, forget it. And definitely don’t go staring at the sun with unprotected eyes, because virtually nothing is going to happen.
In Yellowknife, you’ll get a 20-percent solar eclipse.
What this means is the Moon will kiiiiinda pass across the foot of the Sun, in what might be generously described as an astronomical “boop.” It’ll be barely noticeable.
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In Inuvik, it’s a one-percent eclipse. Imagine a seagull at a cruising altitude of 5,000 feet briefly crossing the Sun. That’s what you’re getting.
Parts of Nunavut get more of a show, with Iqaluit in for a 50-percent eclipse. The Yukon, however, is also SOL (solar outta luck).
To actually see the full solar eclipse, you’ll need to be in a path that stretches roughly from the Mexican west coast, just below Baja California, across Texas and Indiana up to southeastern Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
Expect a whole lot of hoopla from those places in the days leading up to Monday, April 8. The Niagara region, which is in the centre of the path of totality, is reported to have already declared a state of emergency because so many visitors are expected.
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But you know what? Don’t book those last-minute flights from Yellowknife to Toronto (which sits on the edge of the path of totality).
Instead, just hang on for 2044.
The NWT’s big moment
Twenty years from now, the Northwest Territories is going to be smack bang in the centre of a total solar eclipse all of its own.
Unless the human race does something silly like push the Sun off to the side in a bid to fix climate change, a total eclipse will rocket through the NWT just after 7pm MT on August 22, 2044.
It is going to be a doozy. NWT communities that will get a total solar eclipse that evening are:
- Ulukhaktok at 7:03pm
- Délı̨nę at 7:13pm
- Gamètì at 7:15pm
- Wrigley at 7:16pm
- Whatì at 7:17pm
- Behchokǫ̀ (just!) at 7:18pm
- Fort Simpson at 7:19pm
- Jean Marie River at 7:20pm
- Fort Providence at 7:20pm
- Kakisa at 7:21pm
- Sambaa K’e at 7:22pm
- Fort Liard at 7:22pm
- Enterprise at 7:22pm
Yellowknife and Hay River will be fractionally east of the path of totality but will see a remarkable near-total eclipse. (Frankly, if I were you, I’d just drive west a bit, if we still have cars by then.)
There won’t be anything else like it in the NWT this century, so be super, super careful when booking your 2044 summer vacation.
However, if 2044 seems quite far away and you’d like an advance taste without going anywhere, there are a couple more dates of note coming up.
In the late morning of August 12, 2026, a total eclipse will roll past the NWT to the north but the territory can expect a fairly solid partial eclipse.
Just before lunchtime on March 30, 2033, a total eclipse in Alaska will give the NWT – and especially the Beaufort Delta – a great show.
