SOLAR ECLIPSE · WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2026
No. The eclipse misses San Francisco entirely.
The August 12, 2026 solar eclipse is not visible from San Francisco; the Moon's shadow misses the city entirely. Totality crosses Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain, and only the northern United States and most of Canada catch a partial eclipse. But that same night, the Perseid meteor shower peaks over San Francisco.
SAME NIGHT
But August 12 is still the best night of 2026 in San Francisco
The Perseid meteor shower peaks that night under a moonless sky, the year's best meteor display, and San Francisco can watch it with no equipment at all.
Perseids over San Francisco that night →Common questions
Why can't San Francisco see this eclipse?
The Moon's shadow crosses the far North Atlantic on August 12, 2026, and its partial zone reaches only the northern edge of the United States. San Francisco sits outside that zone, so the Sun looks completely normal there all day.
Where is the August 12, 2026 eclipse visible?
Totality crosses Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain. A partial eclipse is visible from the northern United States, most of Canada, and much of Europe: the city-by-city breakdown on our eclipse hub shows exactly how deep it gets in each U.S. metro.
What can San Francisco watch instead that night?
The Perseid meteor shower (the best of 2026) peaks that very night, August 12 into the small hours of August 13, under a moonless sky. San Francisco needs no equipment for it: get away from direct lights, let your eyes adjust, and look up.