Denton Is a City You Must Avoid During the April 8 Solar Eclipse

By Jacob Vaughn

There are cities you should avoid during the April 8 solar eclipse. Three Texas cities, including Denton, are on the list.

You’re probably a little behind if you haven’t hashed out your eclipse plans at this point. But, we still have some pointers if you’re looking to enjoy the eclipse. Here’s a new one: avoid Denton.

Don’t get mad at us, little D. This is coming straight from an expert.

This week, Jamie Carter, senior contributor for Forbes and the self-proclaimed “world’s only solar eclipse journalist,” put out a list of cities you must avoid on April 8. Three Texas cities — San Antonio, Austin and Denton — were singled out.

So, why avoid these cities? Well, Carter explains that witnessing a total solar eclipse can take precision. The moon’s dark central shadow, or umbra, will dart across North America at around 1,500 mph, according to Carter.

If you stand in the path of the moon’s umbra, the path of totality, you’ll see a total eclipse. Stand to the side of it and you’ll catch only a partial eclipse, Carter wrote. There are thousands of North American cities that are either split in two or on the wrong side of the edge of the path of totality, and will see only a partial eclipse, she explained.

Those cities include San Antonio, Austin and Denton, Texas; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Frankfort, Kokomo and Crawfordsville, Indiana; and Rome and the Finger Lakes in New York.
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San Antonio’s northwest suburbs will be in the path of totality, but the city center, Alamo and River Walk won’t be. Downtown Austin will be in the path of totality, but the southeastern suburbs of the city will miss the total eclipse. Denton will get only a 99.95% partial solar eclipse. You’ll want to head over to the southern part of Lake Lewisville if you want to catch a total eclipse.

The start of the partial eclipse will come around 12:23 p.m. in North Texas. The total eclipse will hit the area around 1:40 p.m. and end about four minutes later. So get your solar eclipse glasses or solar viewers ready and, if you’re in Denton, prepare to head to Lake Lewisville for that sweet total eclipse.

If you’re looking for other places to view the eclipse, check out our list of Dallas-area events scheduled for the big day.

JACOB VAUGHN is a Staff Writer for the Dallas Observer where he primarily covers local news and cannabis. Jacob freelanced for the Observer beginning in March 2018 before joining the staff full-time in June 2020. He was also the Clubs Editor from August 2019 to June 2020. Before the Observer, Jacob freelanced for the Local Profile and worked as the editor-in-chief of Dallas College’s Brookhaven Campus newspaper, The Brookhaven Courier. In 2021, Jacob appeared on CBS News to speak about the Conservative Political Action Conference. He was also interviewed by NPR affiliate KTTZ about national and state cannabis.

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