There’s a total lunar eclipse Thursday, Friday. Will clouds block your view?

The entirety of North and Central America, and much of South America, will experience a total lunar eclipse in the overnight hours beginning late Thursday into Friday. The moon will be bathed in a rust-tinged reddish light, transforming into an eerie blondish orb in the sky. Totality — the most dramatic part of the show — will last over an hour.

The eclipse begins at 11:57 p.m. Eastern, starts an hourlong totality at 2:26 a.m. and ends at 6 a.m.

The eclipse will take place as Earth passes between the sun and the moon. That will block direct sunlight from reaching and illuminating the moon. Instead, the only light reaching the lunar disk will be filtered through Earth’s atmosphere — turning the moon light brownish-red.

You won’t need binoculars, a telescope or special glasses to see the eclipse. Instead, anyone on the night side of Earth will be able to observe the spectacle.

Europe will miss out this time around, but another lunar eclipse will be visible for much of Europe and Asia on the night of Sept. 7.

Forecast details

Springtime is typically a fraught period when it comes to cloud forecasting in the United States. This week will be typical in that regard, given several storm systems crossing the country. Here are key details for each region:

Northeast and mid-Atlantic

Partial views are a good bet, especially in the mid-Atlantic and maybe the eastern Great Lakes region. Clouds are expected to be most numerous above New England, perhaps particularly around Boston, in Connecticut and other portions of Northeast shorelines from New Jersey to Maine.

Southeast

One of the best spots to view the eclipse might be the Florida Peninsula, where skies could end up mainly clear. Partial cloudiness is likely elsewhere, though moon chasers may need to watch for thicker clouds and some showers from Mississippi to Georgia.

South-central

Zones of expansive clearing are possible in the southern to central Plains and into the Tennessee Valley region. Elsewhere, it may be no worse than partial sky obstruction, except for the potential of cloudier conditions around northeast Texas to the lower Mississippi Valley.

North-central

There may be numerous clouds in the central and northern Plains to the western Great Lakes region. At least glimpses of the moon are possible, with best odds of prolonged views over areas including Illinois, Iowa and surrounding states.

Mountain West

Clouds cover much of the Rockies given a persistent jet stream dip, although pockets of clearer skies may emerge, especially downwind of larger ranges. Best odds for peeks at the eclipse could be along the edges of the region, such as southern New Mexico and Arizona, Wyoming and Colorado.

West Coast

The tail end of the stormy week will still be ongoing, but a well-timed clearer period emerges Thursday night, especially in some areas. Parts of the region, especially near the Desert Southwest, should see fairly clear skies.

Outside of the U.S.

In Canada, much of the nation can expect considerable cloud cover that will make views of the moon a challenge. Much of Central America and the Caribbean are forecast to have clearer skies and fewer impediments to viewing the eclipse.

Conditions are probably a bit more mixed in South America. Northern parts of the continent, where thunderstorms flourish in tropical warmth, are generally cloudier than further south.

What is a lunar eclipse?

The moon produces no natural light of its own. It appears bright in the night sky only when its sunlit side is facing Earth. A few times a year, however, the Earth passes between the sun and the moon in a way that blocks direct sunlight from hitting the moon. (A lunar eclipse would occur monthly if the moon, sun and Earth were all oriented in a level plane. However, the moon’s orbit around Earth is a bit off-kilter compared to the Earth’s about the sun, meaning perfect lineups happen less frequently.)

But during the eclipse, some of the sun’s rays curve around the edge of Earth, passing through our atmosphere. Because the sunlight enters our atmosphere at an angle, it is subjected to greater scattering. The shorter wavelengths, like blue, violet and white, are scattered away, leaving behind only red and deep orange. That’s why our sunrises and sunsets appear orange — the sun is shining from a low angle to the horizon. It’s also why the sunlight that grazes Earth’s atmosphere en route to the moon is red. (Technically, the light from all the world’s sunrises and sunsets is simultaneously being projected onto the moon during a total lunar eclipse.)

When you can see the show

During the partial phase of the lunar eclipse, the Earth’s shadow will begin taking bites out of the moon. You’ll see a darkening spread across the lunar surface. That will begin at 1:09 a.m. Eastern time March 14. The show won’t be remarkable, but it will still be cool.

Totality, or when the moon is fully immersed in reddish light, will start at 2:26 a.m. Eastern time and last until 3:31 a.m.

From there, the back edge of the Earth’s shadow will withdraw from the moon, and partiality will end at 4:47 a.m. Eastern time.

How rare are lunar eclipses?

Lunar eclipses take place about every six months. So do solar eclipses. (Lunar eclipses and solar eclipses always occur within about two weeks of each other.)

That means they’re not very rare. From any given location, you can see a total lunar eclipse on average once every 2½ years. But for a total solar eclipse, that probability drops to once every 375 years.

Lunar eclipses vs. solar eclipse

The reason people can view lunar eclipses more commonly is because the Earth casts a very big shadow. It’s easier for the moon to slide through that shadow and be “eclipsed.” And because lunar eclipses can be seen by everyone on the nighttime side of Earth when they occur, a much larger chunk of the population can experience each one.

Total solar eclipses, conversely, are seen only in the moon’s umbra, or the darkest part of its shadow. Because the moon is small in our sky, it projects only a tiny pinhole shadow that’s sometimes only a few miles wide. Day turns to night within this tiny band — and only a lucky few each occurrence are in the path of totality.