Rare total solar eclipse to darken Spain, Iceland and Greenland in August 2026

A total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026, will cross parts of the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland and Spain, with totality lasting about two minutes in Spain, according to NASA and Wired. The path of totality will pass over eastern Greenland, the western edge of Iceland and Spain’s Iberian Peninsula, marking the first full solar eclipse visible in Spain in over a century. In the Netherlands, nearly 90 percent of the sun will be obscured at the start of the evening, the largest eclipse in the country since 1999, RTL reported.
The eclipse will begin in the Arctic and move eastward, with partial visibility in Alaska, Canada, parts of the North Atlantic, and some locations in Europe and the eastern U.S. In Spain, the eclipse is expected to peak around 8:30 p.m. Central European Time, coinciding with sunset. Barcelona will experience 99.7 percent coverage, with the Castell de Montjuïc opening its terrace for public viewing from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., including the distribution of certified eclipse glasses for safe observation .
Meteored Spain climatologist Samuel Biener said weather forecasts for Aug. 12 remain uncertain, though temperatures are expected to be 1 to 3 degrees Celsius above average for the week of Aug. 10–16. Biener noted that while no clear precipitation signal exists, some models suggest increased instability in central and eastern Spain, where August thunderstorms are common in mountainous areas like the Pyrenees and the Iberian System .
The University of Groningen and observatories in the Netherlands are organizing public viewing events for the partial eclipse, which will be visible across the country . In Romania, the eclipse will be partially visible in the west, followed later that night by the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, according to Digi24 .
A second eclipse, a partial lunar eclipse, will occur on Aug. 27–28, visible across a broad region of the planet, Wired reported. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses do not follow a narrow path and can be observed simultaneously from multiple locations.
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