Enter Your Louisiana Zip Code and See How the Total Eclipse Will Look in Your City

By now, we all know about the total solar eclipse happening on Monday, April 8, 2024. But do you know what it will look like where you live?

There's a website you can go to and enter your zip code and it will show you specific information about how the eclipse will affect your city.

After you enter your zip code, it will show when the eclipse will start in your city, when it will reach its maximum point, and when it will end.

For example, in Lafayette, Louisiana, we will experience a partial eclipse. The sun will be 87.3% covered during the maximum point.

To try out your zip code, click here.

The site also gives a pretty good illustration showing the timeline of the eclipse across the United States. The interaction map shows the eclipse's effect on the entire country from 12:55 pm to 2:48 pm.

What is a solar eclipse?

The event happening on April 8th is a rare occurrence. Simply put, a solar eclipse is when the Moon comes between the Sun and the Earth, hiding the sunlight.

Where and how to view the eclipse

As you can see in the map above, not all of America will be able to observe the solar eclipse with the same intensity. However, there's a decent-size crosscut of the country that will view a total eclipse and a significant amount more that will view a good percentage of partial eclipse.

To view the eclipse, it is very important that you take certain precautions. The most crucial is to never look directly at it without protection. Doing so can cause burns to your retina and irreversible eye damage.

You must use special eclipse glasses at all times when observing this phenomenon outside the totality zone.

Where can you find eclipse glasses locally?

Several places in the area are selling eclipse glasses. Check with stores like Walmart, Target, Lowes, or local optical shops. Additionally, Sonic is giving solar eclipse glasses with the purchase of a "Blackout Shake," while supplies last.

There are more places too. We recently wrote an article about this subject and you can read it here for more options.