Total Lunar Eclipse on Election Day Will Be Last in 3 Years

Those awake in the wee hours of Election Day this year will be treated to a blood-red lunar eclipse — if the rain stops long enough for Oregonians to see it.

The total lunar eclipse on Tuesday morning, November 8, will be the last in nearly three years. according to NASAas we reach the end of a cycle in which one to two total lunar eclipses occurred almost every year from 2018 to 2022, most recently in may.

Not all of those lunar eclipses are visible in the Pacific Northwest, but Election Day one certainly will be, with all of the western US on the path of totality, according to the predictions.

In Portland, the solar eclipse will technically begin just after midnight on November 8, by time and datethe partial phase begins at 1:09 a.m. and the full eclipse begins at 2:16 a.m.

The big question, as always, is whether Oregonians will actually be able to see the astronomical event, or whether clouds will once again obscure it. The National Weather Service is currently forecasting mostly cloudy sky from Monday evening through Tuesday morning in Portland, with a chance of rain showers. Anyone hoping to see the eclipse in Oregon should head east to the Cascade Mountains, though the odds are slim even there — forecasters call for mostly cloudy skies from Bend to Pendleton and to Burns.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow over the face of a full moon. Lack of sunlight turns the moon a red hue before it goes completely dark.

Eclipses that do not completely cast the moon in its shadow are known as partial and penumbral lunar eclipses. A penumbral eclipse takes place over Oregon on March 24, 2024 and a partial eclipse follows on September 17, 2024.

The next total lunar eclipse, which will take place on March 13, 2025will also be visible from the Pacific Northwest – weather permitting.

—Jamie Hale

503-294-4077; [email protected]; @HaleJamesB

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