Thousands of St. Lawrence County residents, and visitors who traveled to the North Country will have their eyes on the sky this afternoon for a once in a lifetime celestial show.

Mother Nature is being kind to us and will provide a good opportunity to witness a total solar eclipse.

In all areas of St. Lawrence County high clouds will increase throughout the day today, providing a filtered view of the eclipse for most locations, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The heaviest cloud cover appears to be in the Gouverneur area, around 3 p.m.

According to estimates, the partial eclipse will begin over St. Lawrence County about 2:11 p.m., the totality begins about 3:23 p.m. and ends 3:26 p.m. The partial eclipse ends about 4:36 p.m. Times vary depending on where the path travels.

The totality over the region is literally a once in a lifetime event with the next total eclipse not scheduled to pass overhead of St. Lawrence County until 2205, and the next time the region will fall directly under the path of totality, similar to the 2024 eclipse, will not occur again until 2399. The last total solar eclipse in New York was in 1925.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between the sun and the earth. Those in the path of totality, like St. Lawrence County residents will be today, will see the sun form a bright halo ring with an obsidian center where the moon covers it.

In order to see the eclipse, everyone will need to wear special glasses with solar filters or watch through a pinhole projector. Attempting to look at the eclipse without proper protection risks serious eye damage.

Send us your photos of people watching the eclipse with their names and location, or your photos of the eclipse itself, and we may post them on NorthCountryNow.com or print them in the next edition of North Country This Week.