Total Lunar Eclipse Sunday Night in Western New York

If Mother Nature decides to cooperate, we may be treated to a total lunar eclipse Sunday night here in Western New York.

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Lunar eclipses aren't nearly as rare as a solar eclipses, but they still don't happen every day.  Usually, around three lunar eclipses occur each year, according to the National History Museum. But, out of those three, only one is a total lunar eclipse, according to TimeandDate.com.

One of those semi-rare total eclipses will be taking place this Sunday. If you look to the skies this Sunday evening, and into the early morning hours of Monday, May 16th, there is a good chance you will see a total lunar eclipse of the 'Flower Moon', May's full moon, that will be occurring at 12:14 am.

You may hear some referring to the eclipse as a 'Blood Moon'.  A total lunar eclipse is sometimes called a Blood Moon because the Full moon will take on a blood-red color when it is fully eclipsed.

This particular total eclipse will be visible from across North and South America, as well as parts of Europe and Africa.

The Eclipse will begin around 9:30 pm on Sunday when the penumbral eclipse begins and will last till around 2:00 am when the partial eclipse ends.  The penumbral eclipse ends just before 3:00 am on Monday.  If you're like us and don't know what all those fancy scientific words mean, you can find out more at TimeAndDate.com

The key to us having a good view of the total lunar eclipse is going to be the weather.  Right now rain is forecast for the day on Sunday.  If the isolated thunderstorms clear out by evening, we should be able to catch a clear view of one of nature's wonders Sunday night here in Western New York.