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The go-to place for an ideal view of the solar eclipse is probably not in Ontario.
Pesky cloud cover may cast a dim shadow over viewing regions in much of Canada, but clear skies await those in Quebec and the maritimes, according to The Weather Network (TWN).
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“Some of the best views of the eclipse in all of North America will unfold in the skies over southern Quebec on Monday,” the network reported.
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The total solar eclipse’s path is expected to traverse mostly clear skies through New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the tip of Cape Breton and into the Quebec archipelago of the Iles-de-la-Madeleine. In Ontario, the best views are likely to come on the “extreme ends” of the total solar eclipse’s path through Ontario, the province’s most southwestern and eastern edges, according to Sean Akiyama, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
Canadian Press spoke to one man who drove from Toronto to Kingston, Ont. to see the eclipse who now says he’s considering driving to Montreal, which has clear skies forecasted, as he eyes the cloud coverage coming off from the lake.
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As many eclipse watchers flock to Hamilton and St. Catherines, bringing the region to a standstill, smaller cities that dot the 185 km-wide path of totality may actually have gotten slightly overshadowed by the attention.
Clearer skies are expected farther east of those cities, including in places like Sherbrooke, Que. and as far as Woodstock, N.B. and Burgeo, N.L. (In Fort Eerie, Ont. where totality is expected to last 3 minutes and 46 seconds, conditions are looking mostly cloudy)
Located near Eclipse Island, Burgeo, a fishing town about nine hours away from St. John’s, will get totality for about two minutes.
“If we get 30 to 40 people show up here just for the eclipse, I will be ecstatic,” Michael Ward, townclerk, told Reuters. The town of about 1,100 is celebrating with a traditional smudging ceremony, singing and drumming to celebrate Indigenous culture.
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But even in parts of Canada that are expected to be mostly cloudy, like southern Ontario, the views are sure to be memorable.
“Folks who’ve seen eclipses with high clouds often say that the obstruction has a surreal, almost cinematic effect, making it look like a spaceship passing overhead,” according to TWN.
However, the clouds have a chance to part for the eclipse to peek through near the Falls around 3:30 p.m. ET.
The path of totality, where the sun goes directly behind the moon, will first cross through southwestern Ontario around 3:15 p.m. Monday and move east through Quebec and Atlantic Canada before exiting Newfoundland around 3:45 p.m. eastern time.
Additional reporting from Canadian Press
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