Solar eclipse Dallas 2024

Texas will be the prime viewing destination for a total solar eclipse in just under two years, when the moon blocks the entirety of the sun.

On April 8, 2024, the eclipse will trace a narrow path of totality (complete darkness) across 13 states, with the longest duration in Texas and the shortest in Maine. Because the eclipse will enter the United States through Texas and into Arkansas, Texans will be first to experience it. The sky will become very dark for a few minutes, as if it were night.

Texans in the path of a total solar eclipse will also be able to see the sun’s corona, its outer atmosphere, otherwise obscured by the sun’s brightness.

The last total solar eclipse in 2017, the first seen in the contiguous U.S. since 1979, didn’t make its way through Texas. This time, Texas will be the state where more people will witness totality than anywhere else in the U.S., according to National Eclipse.

That’s not only because Texas is such a large state and the path of totality covers so much ground, but also because Texas is where the eclipse will cross the three largest cities — San Antonio, Dallas and Austin. Texas is also considered to have the best eclipse-day weather prospects in the country.

When will the total solar eclipse happen in Texas?

The eclipse will begin in Texas at approximately 12:10 p.m., with totality beginning at about 1:27 p.m. It exits the state at approximately 3:06 p.m., with totality coming to an end at about 1:49 p.m.

Totality will last about two minutes in San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth, and about four minutes in Dallas. The longest duration of totality in Texas will be 4 minutes, 26 seconds, at Eagle Pass, on the U.S.-Mexico border.

From the Mexico-Texas border to the Texas-Oklahoma border, the moon’s shadow travels approximately 478 miles in 17 minutes, 30 seconds, at an average speed of 1,641 mph.

Where will be the best place to see the eclipse in Texas?

Clear skies make the best conditions for eclipse viewing.

Dalia Faheid is a reporter on the Star-Telegram’s service journalism team. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.