Montreal's solar eclipse will only look good in some areas — here’s who misses out

The total solar eclipse coming up on April 8 has been the talk of the town lately — and for good reason. It's a rare astronomical phenomenon during which the sky will go completely dark for around one-and-a-half minutes in the early afternoon, and it won't happen again in Montreal until 2205.

But if you're planning on watching from home (with your protective glasses on, of course), it's important for you to know that not every Montreal neighbourhood will provide a view of the eclipse in its totality. You have to be in something called the totality zone — basically the pathway within which 100% of the sun is covered by the moon rather than 99.99%.

Apparently, this actually makes a huge difference.

"Keep in mind that to fully appreciate the awe-inspiring power of the total eclipse, one MUST BE INSIDE the path of totality. Even just outside, the Sun will not be completely hidden by the Moon, and the day-turns-to-night phenomenon will not happen," reads a notice from Espace pour la vie (Space for Life), home of the Montreal Planetarium.

"A 99.99% partial eclipse is not in any way equivalent to '99.99% of the experience' of a total eclipse of the Sun: the magic of totality will still be missing!"

Espace pour la vie estimates that 45% of the Montreal population lives outside the path of totality.

So, how do you find out if the viewpoint you had in mind is in the zone of totality or not?

For starters, you can take a look at Espace pour la vie's map (hyperlinked here) showing the visibility of the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse in Montreal.

You'll see from the map that if you live in the central or southern parts of the Island of Montreal, you should be able to witness the total eclipse. However, moving northward things get dicey — and that's especially true on the North Shore where residents will only see a partial eclipse. Sorry, Laval but no total eclipse for you.

On the island, those in Montréal-Nord, Saint-Léonard, Anjou and Montréal-Est will miss out too.

If you're south of those neighbourhoods but not by that much, you'll want to verify your exact address using the My Eclipse app. Certain Montreal boroughs have some sections that are within the path of totality and other sections that aren't, such as Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie and Villeray—Saint-Michel—Parc-Extension.

Other factors you'll want to consider are the exact times down to the second that the eclipse will start, the totality will start, the totality will end and the eclipse will end, which vary slightly according to your precise location. All of this information is available by plugging an address into the My Eclipse app.