By Ashley Strickland, Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury, Antoinette Radford, Eric Zerkel and Aditi Sangal, CNN
From CNN's Priscilla Alvarez
Vice President Kamala Harris will arrive in Philadelphia in time to catch a glimpse of the solar eclipse on Monday, according to a White House official.
Harris will exit her plane and greet Philadelphians, including young students, at the airfield.
All will receive appropriate eyewear — including the VP — and they will view the solar eclipse together, the official said.
Lansong Yue traveled to the US from Beijing, China, to see the solar eclipse.
He said he arrived in Dallas on Thursday before flying to Chicago and driving to Indianapolis.
Lansong said his main reason for making the journey across the world is because "the weather should be okay in the United States."
"I think the solar eclipse is the most amazing astronomical phenomenon on the Earth, so I'm coming for this," Lansong told CNN.
From CNN's Maureen Chowdhury
Science educator Bill Nye is in Fredericksburg, Texas, one of the many cities in the United States that will be experiencing the totality of the solar eclipse.
Currently, there is some cloud coverage in Fredericksburg, but Nye says it will not take away from the rare and awe-inspiring experience.
"I've been in a total solar eclipse in 2002, when it was a little cloudy — it's still amazing, you guys. It goes dark. It turns to night in a few moments," Nye told CNN.
Nye also noted what a singular unique event the eclipse is and one that people should truly be present for.
"We are unique in the solar system and we're probably unique in the galaxy," Nye explained. "The situation where our moon blocks the same width of sky as our sun. There's no place else in the solar system where that happens, but it happens here, probably doesn't happen any other place nearby galactically and so appreciate it. It's a remarkable thing where it goes completely dark when you're in the path," he said.
He urged people who are set to experience the totality to put down their phones and take in the rare event.
From CNN's Ashley Strickland
When the total solar eclipse traces a path across Mexico, the United States and Canada later today, spectators can anticipate a multitude of awe-inspiring moments.
It’s worth taking some time to stop and take in this historic celestial event because a total solar eclipse won’t be visible across the contiguous US again until August 2044 and an annular eclipse — which happens when the moon can’t completely block the sun— won’t appear across this part of the world again until 2046.
Here's what you should watch for:
Read more about what to expect during the eclipse.
From CNN's Jackie Wattles
Folks in Texas have become weather-obsessed since clouds and storms have threatened to blot out the sky for the total solar eclipse.
Fredericksburg, a hill country town about 100 miles west of Austin, is teeming with activity as members of the nonprofit Planetary Society and their family members have gathered to catch the big show.
Weather chatter is common, but as of 9 a.m. CT, promising blotches of blue were peeking through the thick white blanket of cloud cover.
Many of the 800 people who registered for the event camped on site — in tents, "glamping" accommodations or in nearby cottages.
They've all gathered to spend the big event with Bill Nye, the famed science communicator and CEO of the Planetary Society. The nonprofit was founded by the late astronomer Carl Sagan in 1980, and it's dedicated to advocating for the scientific exploration of outer space.
Nye arrived Sunday evening by helicopter, shuttling over from an event in Austin.
From CNN's Matt Stiles, Kenneth Uzquiano, Ashley Strickland and Will Mullery
The eclipse will first appear over the South Pacific Ocean and begin its journey across North America.
Mexico’s Pacific coast is the first point of totality on the path, expected at 11:07 a.m. local time (2:07 p.m. ET), and the eclipse is expected to end on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland at 5:16 p.m. local time (3:46 p.m. ET).
To find out when the eclipse will start and end where you live, check out this interactive map.
From CNN's Jackie Wattles
The sun has risen over Fredericksburg, Texas — a small town in the Texas hill country where members of the nonprofit Planetary Society have gathered.
Roughly 600 people were already in attendance on Monday morning, with some grabbing breakfast tacos — a Texas morning meal staple. Families also perused a selection of board games to pass the time as they awaited the big moment.
Kids stopped by a station to "create a bowtie" they could later get signed by Bill Nye, the famed science communicator and CEO of the Planetary Society. Nye arrived by helicopter to the venue last night.
Jeremy Bloom, a 64-year-old editor of the environmental website RedGreenandBlue.org, traveled with his family from New York City to witness the eclipse.
He and his wife, Dale, have been obsessionists since they caught the 2017 total solar eclipse in the backwoods of Grand Tetone National Park in Wyoming.
"My wife didn't get it, until she saw it, and she was like, 'WOW!'" Bloom said.
At the time, his wife was five months pregnant. Now they're back with their 6-year-old son Marlowe. Bloom isn't sure if Marlowe has wrapped his head around the event just yet — "but I think it'll be just like my wife."
From CNN's Mary Gilbert and Eric Zerkel
One of the amazing side-effects of the eclipse is its ability to change the weather — but it has its limits.
Changes to temperature, wind speed and humidity occur as the moon crosses in front of the sun and casts a shadow on Earth’s surface during a solar eclipse. In the path of totality, temperatures will drop by around 10 degrees. It will also start to feel more humid and winds and cloud coverage could drop.
Unfortunately, the changes will not do enough to dent the chances for severe thunderstorms in Texas and parts of Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma, where large hail, strong winds and tornadoes are possible after the eclipse passes through.
Several ingredients combine to form thunderstorms, one of which involves the sun. Thunderstorms need warm, moist air to form. As the sun heats up the ground it causes air to warm up and rise until it starts cooling and its moisture condenses into clouds.
So, you might think that if the eclipse blocks the sun and drops temperatures it would also dent the chances for storms to form. But temperatures will recover quickly after the eclipse, the air will still be chock-full of moisture, and the other atmospheric ingredients that help form thunderstorms will play a more outsized role in their formation today, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
"Despite a solar eclipse across this region, its impact on the overall severe weather threat will likely remain minimal," the center said.
The dangerous storms could start firing up within a couple of hours of the eclipse passing, maybe as soon as 3 to 4 p.m. local time.
From CNN’s Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt
The opportunity to witness a rare natural phenomenon today has some people hoping for a supernatural results.
“You feel the healing energy,” Rischa Leinweber told CNN.
Leinweber is the co-owner of Zen & Alchemy, a self-described “holistic company specializing in natural therapies.” She said one of her practitioners was offering a “pre-eclipse alignment” for visitors to prepare for the big event. But some cultures and faith traditions see the eclipse as more of a bad omen.
“We've got a friend who works at the visitors center, and they've been getting all these calls that people are, like, afraid that this is going to be the apocalypse or the rapture or something,” Leinweber said.
The owner of Zen & Alchemy says there’s not a specific vibe people are supposed to get from the eclipse.
“This kind of spiritual, physical journey is unique to everybody, and everybody’s got a little bit different experience with it,” Leinweber said.
