A Total Solar Eclipse in the Westfjords
On 12 August 2026, a total solar eclipse passed over the Westfjords.
It was a rare event, and one that had attracted considerable attention for months beforehand. Visitors came from Iceland and abroad, while people living in the region made plans to watch from towns, hillsides, beaches and viewpoints across the Westfjords.
As the afternoon went on, attention gradually turned towards the sky.
The partial eclipse began around 16:45, as the Moon slowly moved in front of the Sun. At first, the change was subtle. Through eclipse glasses, a small section of the Sun appeared to be missing. Over the following hour, that shape grew larger.
The weather was very Icelandic. Cloud cover varied considerably from place to place, and in some areas people spent much of the afternoon watching for breaks in the clouds. Sometimes the Sun appeared clearly, and then disappeared again only minutes later.
That uncertainty became part of the experience.
As totality approached, the change in daylight became increasingly noticeable. The light grew dimmer and slightly unusual in colour, and the surroundings began to feel different even before the Sun was completely covered.
Then, shortly before 17:45, totality began.
For a short period, the Moon completely covered the Sun and daylight faded dramatically. Depending on the location, totality lasted from around a minute to more than two minutes. Látrabjarg, in the southwest of the Westfjords, experienced one of the longest periods of totality in Iceland.
Even where clouds obscured the Sun itself, the effect was unmistakable.
The sudden darkness, the drop in temperature and the change in the behaviour of birds all contributed to the experience. For a few moments, an ordinary August afternoon became something completely different.
People reacted in different ways. There were cheers in some places, while elsewhere people simply stood quietly and watched. After months of anticipation, the main event itself was over surprisingly quickly.
And then the light returned.
Within moments, the landscape began to brighten again and the Moon continued slowly across the Sun. The partial eclipse remained visible for almost another hour, but the extraordinary part had passed.
The eclipse of 2026 was particularly special because total solar eclipses are extremely rare in Iceland. The previous one visible from the country took place in 1954, and the next total solar eclipse visible from Iceland will not occur until 2196.
For many people in the Westfjords, this was therefore very much a once in a lifetime event.
It was also a shared experience across the region. Visitors and residents watched the same event from very different locations, from Látrabjarg and Rauðasandur in the south to Ísafjörður, Bolungarvík and other communities.
Some had travelled a long way specifically for the eclipse. Others only needed to walk a few minutes from home.
The weather meant that not everyone saw the Sun itself at the exact moment of totality. But that did not necessarily make the experience less memorable. The sudden darkness still arrived, the atmosphere changed, and for a brief moment everyone knew exactly what was happening above the clouds.
That may be one of the lasting memories of the 2026 eclipse in the Westfjords.
For a few minutes on an August afternoon, the Westfjords went dark in the middle of the day an then everything became bright again.