"It will begin to be known if there is clear sky a week before the eclipse"

A CoruñaThe unknown about whether the sky will be clear for the total solar eclipse that will occur in just two months cannot be resolved until "the trend" is seen a week before, points out in an interview with EFE the doctor in Physical Sciences and meteorologist Mar Gómez, who warns that August is a hot month. "I would love to give you an answer about the weather forecast for that day, but the truth is we don't know, because it is reliable a few days in advance," explained the meteorological director of eltiempo.es.

"We know that August is a hot month. In general, it is also a month in which storms sometimes appear," warns Gómez, who advances that a week before the phenomenon a "trend" will already be visible.

First time in more than a century on the Peninsula

Gómez, who is dedicated to astrophysics outreach, among other issues, argues that it is a "unique" eclipse, as it will be the first total one visible in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands since 1912. He insists that it will be different from the phenomenon that occurred in 2005 and that many still remember today, an annular eclipse. "It's not exactly the same; it's true that the Moon covers the solar disk almost entirely, but I say 'almost' because precisely in an annular eclipse, what we see is this ring of fire, because it has not been completely covered. This is because the Moon is a little further from Earth and does not manage to cover it completely".

What effects will this eclipse, which will indeed be total, have? "If we are in the band of totality, it will become completely dark, we will not notice anything else," he points out. But this sudden darkening will affect the biorhythms of animals, which receive a "tsunami of melatonin". "Possibly, birds will try to return to their nests, ants to their anthills, sheep will regroup and cows, for example, will stop grazing," although they will recover quickly, because the total phase will last a short time – the maximum will be near Iceland, around two minutes.

Phenomena observable on August 12

As it is dusk, on this day it will be possible to appreciate what is colloquially known as a 'Blood Moon': "Due to atmospheric refraction, we will simply see the sun a little flatter. In addition, the solar corona will be seen with a slightly more reddish hue instead of the characteristic whitish tone," explains the physicist.

The so-called Bailey's beads will also be seen – luminous flashes that appear just when totality occurs, which are observed because the sunlight passes through the craters, valleys, and mountains of the Moon – and the diamond ring, "a very powerful flash of light" that indicates when totality begins and ends.

Gómez also indicates that one of the protagonists of the total eclipse will be the solar corona, its outer atmosphere, which will be appreciated "like a halo around the Sun, as if it were a kind of ring" and which can only be seen during this phenomenon.

The one on August 12 begins the so-called Iberian eclipse trio, which will be completed with another total one on August 2, 2027, which will cross the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea, and an annular one that will allow us to see a "ring of fire" around the Sun on January 26, 2028.