Tonight’s the night! A total lunar eclipse will occur and it will be visible to the naked eye from right here in northwest Indiana–but the problem is…we’ll have clouds around. In terms of a forecast for clearing skies, it will be a race against time.

Showers and pockets of heavy rain are moving through the Region this evening with the closest pocket of clear skies way back towards Rockford. That clearing IS advancing eastward, but will likely make it across the state line into the western portion of northwest Indiana around midnight–this will be just after totality has occurred, but you may still be able to catch a portion of the partial eclipse.

What is a lunar eclipse?

A lunar eclipse happens when the moon passes through Earth’s shadow, or “umbra,” according to NASA. As it does, the moon will turn “red,” thus giving it the nickname, a “Blood Moon,” NASA said.

This can only happen when the Sun, Earth and moon are aligned, NASA says. It’s known as a “total lunar eclipse” because the moon is full.

Here’s the timeline for northwest Indiana according to timeanddate.com:

We’ll chat a bit more about this and take a look at the next 10 days in our Region Weather LIVE broadcast Sunday evening on our Facebook page! Join us!