Hard gates happen first.
Outside totality, below your duration, blocked, closed or beyond the drive limit means excluded. A high weather score cannot buy its way back in.
How we choose, and what we still do not know.
First we remove places that simply cannot work. Then we compare weather, horizon, journey, eclipse time and basic services. Unknowns stay visible.
How the ranking is assembled
Clear sky50%
Horizon20%
Reachability15%
Eclipse10%
Services5%
Weather uses an API.
Open-Meteo ensemble data is fetched every ten minutes for the reviewed Spain places. ECMWF, NOAA GEFS and DWD ICON-EU stay separate before we combine them.
Unknown stays unknown.
Official event status is not proof of an open western horizon. Terrain, buildings, trees and temporary structures keep separate labels.
The maths is deterministic.
LLMs may explain the result. They do not calculate eclipse contacts, routes, horizon clearance or the numerical rank.
Reviewed evidence
22 source records, with publication and verification status retained.
| Publisher | Source | Class | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instituto Geográfico Nacional | El eclipse total del 12 de agosto de 2026 | authoritative-primary | verified |
| Instituto Geográfico Nacional | Observation conditions from each location | authoritative-primary | verified |
| Instituto Geográfico Nacional | Weather information for the 12 August 2026 eclipse | authoritative-primary | verified |
| Agencia Estatal de Meteorología | ¿Estará despejado el día del eclipse de 2026? | authoritative-meteorological-primary | verified-climatology-not-forecast |
| NASA Science | Total Solar Eclipse on August 12, 2026 | authoritative-primary | verified |
| Don Cross, CosineKitty | Astronomy Engine 2.1.19 | independent-deterministic-calculator | verified |
| Ayuntamiento de Valladolid | El Ayuntamiento de Valladolid prepara un dispositivo especial para garantizar la movilidad y la seguridad durante el eclipse solar | official-primary | verified-with-time-conflict |
| Turismo Ayuntamiento de Palencia | Eclipse Agosto 2026 | official-primary | verified |
| Ayuntamiento de Palencia | Palencia se convierte en referencia científica del eclipse en España | official-primary | verified |
| Cadena SER Palencia | Siete puntos estratégicos permitirán seguir el eclipse solar en la provincia de Palencia | current-secondary-reporting | corroborated-by-city-programme |
| European Space Agency | Vive el eclipse solar total con la ESA en León | official-primary | verified |
| Universidad de León | Vive el eclipse solar total con la Agencia Espacial Europea en León | official-independent-primary | verified |
| Ayuntamiento de León | Vive el eclipse solar total con la Agencia Espacial Europea en León | official-primary | verified |
| Dirección General de Tráfico | Medidas extraordinarias para un eclipse total | official-primary | verified |
| Dirección General de Tráfico | Tráfico activa la Operación Verano 2026 | official-primary | verified |
| Open-Meteo | Ensemble API | weather-data-aggregator | live-api-verified |
| OpenStreetMap contributors | Nominatim geocoding results for the three named venues | open-geodata | verified-against-named-venues |
| Aena | Car hire at Madrid-Barajas Airport terminal T1 | official-travel-primary | verified-inventory-not-checked |
| Valladolid Tourism | Alojamientos | official-travel-directory | directory-verified-live-availability-not-checked |
| sfjc open-source project | Eclipse Horizon Checker | specialist-open-source-calculator | reproduced-by-independent-ray-trace |
| OpenStreetMap contributors and Eclipse / Field deterministic verifier | Exact-pin OpenStreetMap obstruction audit | open-geodata-deterministic-audit | verified-with-height-gaps |
| Asociación Leonesa de Astronomía | Preparando lugares para el eclipse | specialist-independent-ground-check | verified-area-not-exact-standing-pin |