Total solar eclipse · 12 August 2026 · Spain, coast to coast

Where to stand when the sun goes out

The umbra crosses mainland Spain in about six minutes, from the Asturias coast to the Ebro delta — 676 km of centreline in a band ~300 km wide. The sun is low the whole way and gets lower eastward, so terrain decides everything. 93 sites verified against 5 m LiDAR, tree canopy, building footprints and 20 years of cloud records.

Download the whole thing as a PDF · How it was computed

Path of totality across Spain with the eight analysed slices.
The umbral path and the eight slices. Madrid and Barcelona sit outside the band; Oviedo, Burgos and Zaragoza are inside it.

Go west for altitude, east for weather. Slice 1 has the longest totality (111 s) and the highest sun (10.3°) — and the Cantabrian coast is clouded out half the time. Slices 3 to 5 across the Castilian páramo are the compromise: 105–108 s, sun 7–9°, wide horizons and reliably clear August skies.

Everywhere, the sun sets while still eclipsed or immediately after. Look west-northwest — azimuth 281° at the Atlantic end swinging to 285° at the Mediterranean. The umbra runs almost due south, so the shadow arrives from your right as you face the sun.

The eight slices

West to east. Each opens its own page with every verified site, coordinates, aerial photos and forecast links.

1 Asturias / Asturies 111 s totality · sun 10.3° · 13 sites Best: Roadside nr. Quirós (94)2 Asturias / Asturies → Palencia 109 s totality · sun 9.5° · 12 sites Best: Roadside nr. Cangas de Onís (94)3 Palencia → Burgos 108 s totality · sun 8.7° · 10 sites Best: Redondilla (91)4 Burgos → Soria 106 s totality · sun 7.9° · 13 sites Best: Alto de Merendilla (96)5 Soria 105 s totality · sun 7.1° · 7 sites Best: El Ardal (96)6 Soria → Teruel 104 s totality · sun 6.3° · 8 sites Best: Cerro de Santa Cruz (95)7 Teruel 103 s totality · sun 5.5° · 10 sites Best: Roadside nr. Cuevas de Almudén (95)8 Teruel → Castelló / Castellón 101 s totality · sun 4.7° · 10 sites Best: Roadside nr. Fortanete (95) ★ Salinillas / Lerma deep dive Straddles slices 3–5 · 33 candidates Best: Alto de Merendilla (96)

At a glance

SliceTotality Sun altAzimuth Max (CEST)Best site Rating
Slice 1 — Asturias / Asturies 111 s10.3° 281°20:28 Roadside nr. Quirós43.1881, -5.9248 · Park at the spot (road) Excellent94
Slice 2 — Asturias / Asturies → Palencia 109 s9.5° 281°20:28 Roadside nr. Cangas de Onís43.2755, -5.0025 · Park at the spot (road) Excellent94
Slice 3 — Palencia → Burgos 108 s8.7° 282°20:29 Redondilla42.6498, -4.2402 · Short walk 188 m (track) Excellent91
Slice 4 — Burgos → Soria 106 s7.9° 283°20:29 Alto de Merendilla41.9847, -3.4125 · Park at the spot (track) Excellent96
Slice 5 — Soria 105 s7.1° 283°20:30 El Ardal41.7616, -3.1288 · Park at the spot (track) Excellent96
Slice 6 — Soria → Teruel 104 s6.3° 284°20:30 Cerro de Santa Cruz41.1142, -1.5656 · Park at the spot (track) Excellent95
Slice 7 — Teruel 103 s5.5° 285°20:31 Roadside nr. Cuevas de Almudén40.7692, -0.8030 · Park at the spot (road) Excellent95
Slice 8 — Teruel → Castelló / Castellón 101 s4.7° 285°20:31 Roadside nr. Fortanete40.5432, -0.5240 · Park at the spot (road) Excellent95

Where August evenings are actually clear

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Twenty years of the aerodromes' own METARs, counted in the hour totality falls.

Map of Spain with the eclipse path and Voronoi cells around each reporting airport, coloured by how often August evening skies are usable.
Each cell takes the record of its nearest reporting station, so the map shows observation catchments rather than a smooth field — and no cell extends beyond 180 km from its station. Share of METARs at 18:00–19:00 UTC, 5–20 August, 2006–2025, where the sky was clear, few or scattered rather than broken or overcast.

Geometry and climate point in opposite directions. Slice 1 has the longest totality and the highest sun, and Asturias is clouded out half the time (Santander, 58 %). Over the mountains onto the meseta it flips — Burgos 96 %, León 97 %, Zaragoza 94 %. Nine extra seconds of totality roughly doubles the chance of seeing nothing.

For the Salinillas plan: the nearest stations are Vitoria at 30 km (67 %) and Logroño at 45 km (80 %) — the upper Ebro still catches Cantabrian cloud. Burgos, nearest both Lerma and Alto de Merendilla, is 96 %. The drive south-west buys better odds as well as more totality.

Full numbers for all thirteen stations
StationClear/few ScatteredBroken/OVC Usable
LELN · León 43 km off centre · 88 obs 81%16% 3% 97%
LEBG · Burgos 32 km off centre · 102 obs 75%21% 4% 96%
LEVD · Valladolid 85 km off centre · 52 obs 73%23% 4% 96%
LEMD · Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas 142 km off centre · 45 obs 78%18% 4% 96%
LEZG · Zaragoza 78 km off centre · 93 obs 74%19% 6% 94%
LEDA · Lleida-Alguaire 147 km off centre · 36 obs 92%3% 6% 94%
LETO · Madrid–Torrejón 137 km off centre · 105 obs 73%20% 7% 93%
LEVC · Valencia 114 km off centre · 136 obs 67%22% 11% 89%
LERS · Reus 115 km off centre · 153 obs 65%24% 11% 89%
LELO · Logroño-Agoncillo 99 km off centre · 65 obs 63%17% 20% 80%
LEVT · Vitoria 121 km off centre · 163 obs 48%18% 33% 67%
LEAS · Asturias 25 km off centre · 175 obs 32%18% 50% 50%
LEXJ · Seve Ballesteros-Santander 120 km off centre · 156 obs 27%15% 58% 42%

On the day — live observations and forecasts

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Climatology chooses the region. These choose the spot, in the last 48 hours.

What to watch, and when. T−10 to T−3 days: ECMWF and AEMET medium-range — treat as a regional steer only. T−30 hours: the first TAFs covering eclipse evening appear, on the 11th. These are real aviation forecasts of cloud base and amount, and they are the best worded guidance you will get. T−6 hours and inside: stop reading forecasts and watch Meteosat rapid-scan imagery, refreshed every five minutes, plus the hourly METARs below. That is how the 2024 Texas chasers made their final moves. With totality at 20:28–20:32 local, August convection over the meseta is normally decaying by then.

Every aerodrome within 150 km of the centreline. All fifteen file hourly METARs and issue TAFs, including Castellón and Teruel, which sit closest to the path in slices 7–8.
AerodromeLive observations & forecast
LEAS · Asturias Ranón · 25 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LELN · León La Virgen del Camino · 43 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LEBG · Burgos Burgos · 32 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LEVD · Valladolid Valladolid · 85 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LEXJ · Seve Ballesteros-Santander Santander · 120 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LEVT · Vitoria Alava · 121 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LELO · Logroño-Agoncillo Logroño · 99 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LEZG · Zaragoza Zaragoza · 78 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LETL · Teruel Teruel · 51 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LECH · Castellón-Costa Azahar Castellón de la Plana · 20 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LEVC · Valencia Valencia · 114 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LERS · Reus Reus · 115 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LEDA · Lleida-Alguaire Lleida · 147 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LEMD · Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Madrid · 142 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
LETO · Madrid–Torrejón Madrid · 137 km off centre METAR TAF Windy Yr
Satellite nowcast

Cloud, as it is now

The only tool that matters in the final hours. Rapid-scan covers Europe every five minutes.

EUMETView AEMET satellite Sat24 Spain Zoom Earth
Model forecasts

Days out

Prefer high-resolution models near the day: AROME and ICON-D2 resolve afternoon convection that global models smear.

Windy (ECMWF/AROME) AEMET forecast Ventusky
Eclipse-specific

Chaser resources

Cloud climatology and prospects written for this particular eclipse, by people who do this for a living.

Eclipsophile 2026 NASA path data Xavier Jubier map