If the clouds clear enough on Thursday night and very early Friday morning, look up at the right time and you’ll be treated to an unusual sight — a moon that has turned a deep blood red.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth, and moon align so that the moon passes into Earth’s shadow. In a total lunar eclipse, the entire moon falls within the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra.
When the moon is fully within the umbra, it appears to be a deep red-orange.
The phenomenon begins at 8:57 p.m. California time, and will take more than two hours to achieve totality, which will begin at 11:26 p.m. The eclipse stays at totality until 12:31 Friday morning, and will be completely over at 3 a.m.
That means that despite a storm blanketing much of southern California, there may be points when the blood moon can be spotted through the clouds.
Clouds are a typical issue this time of year in the northern hemisphere, said Dr. Renee Weber, chief scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
“With March being a pretty typical month for spring showers, there’s roughly a 50/50 chance it’ll be cloudy, so keep a close eye on the weather forecast leading up to the eclipse,” Weber said.
“That totality will last for close to an hour, so even if it’s cloudy you may still be able to glimpse it if the clouds are scattered.”
The “blood moon,” the etymology of which is probably easy to figure out, appears in proximity with a lunar eclipse, when sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere reaches the moon’s surface.
Because reds and orange have longer wavelengths, they make it through Earth’s atmosphere when colors with shorter wavelengths, such as blues and violets, have already scattered away. The more dust or clouds in Earth’s atmosphere during a lunar eclipse, the redder the moon appears.
The next total lunar eclipse to be visible from San Diego will be Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
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