How to read this map

Every dot is a real spot you could stand at to watch the total solar eclipse of 12 August 2026, when the Moon's shadow crosses northern Spain and the Balearics at sunset. The color rates how good the view is likely to be — green is better, red/orange is worse.

What goes into the color

• Sun altitude — the eclipsed sun sits low in the west-northwest; the higher it is above the horizon, the easier to see. It's highest in the northwest and drops toward the southeast.
• Horizon clearance — whether the low western sun-line is actually open, i.e. not blocked by nearby mountains or hills. Computed by ray-casting the terrain from each point.
• Totality duration — how long the total phase lasts there.

Weather is not in the base color. Tick “Shade by cloud climatology” to also factor in the typical chance of a clear sky. That figure comes from ERA5 reanalysis: the share of August evenings (17–19 UTC, 1995–2024) with mostly-clear skies (total cloud cover ≤ 30%), per 0.25° cell. It is a long-term climatological average — not a weather forecast (a real forecast only becomes meaningful about a week out).

Why are there gaps with no dots?

Either there are no mapped viewpoints there, or the terrain blocks the low western sun — common on the meseta, where mountains to the west hide the sunset unless you're on high ground.

Why are some dots closer together?

Dots come from OpenStreetMap (peaks, viewpoints, passes, etc.), then filtered by terrain visibility — so they're denser where there are more mapped, unobstructed vantage points.