A blood-red moon will soon grace the skies for a total lunar eclipse — and there won’t be another until late 2028.

The spectacle will be visible Tuesday morning from North America, Central America and the western part of South America. Australia and eastern Asia can catch it Tuesday night. Partial stages of the eclipse with small bites taken out of the moon can be seen from Central Asia and much of South America. Africa and Europe will be shut out.

Solar and lunar eclipses happen due to a precise alignment of the sun, moon and Earth. There are between four and seven a year, according to NASA.

The eclipses tend to follow each other, taking advantage of the sweet spot in the celestial bodies’ orbits. Tuesday’s total eclipse of the moon comes two weeks after a ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse that dazzled people and penguins in Antarctica.

During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth is between the sun and full moon, casting a shadow that covers the moon. The so-called blood moon looks red because of stray bits of sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere.

The show unfolds over several hours, with totality lasting about an hour.

Compared to a solar eclipse, “the lunar eclipse is a little more of a relaxed pace,” said Catherine Miller at Middlebury College’s Mittelman Observatory.

For those in the path, there’s no need for any special equipment to observe — just a clear, cloudless view of the sky.

Use a forecasting app or any online celestial calendar to look up the exact timing for your area. Venture outside a few times to see Earth’s shadow darken the moon, eventually revealing the reddish-orange orb.

“You don’t have to be out there the whole time to see the shadows moving,” said astronomer Bennett Maruca with the University of Delaware.

There’s a partial lunar eclipse on the docket for August, visible across the Americas, Europe, Africa and west Asia.

While most people are looking forward to seeing the eclipse, throughout history — many people saw eclipses as omens of doom. Some superstitions and fears still exist. NBC 5 producer Sara Sanchez learned more from historians and eclipse experts.

Austin Animal Services is hosting a free, high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter for cats and dogs now through March 2 in North Austin.

The five-day clinic, which is being held in partnership with Greater Good Charities, is taking place at 11580 Stonehollow Dr., Suite 160. Registration and drop-off begin on-site each day from 7:30-10 a.m. or until capacity is reached.

In addition to free spay/neuter surgeries, pets receiving surgery will also receive vaccinations, flea and tick prevention, and microchips, ensuring that they return home healthier and better protected.

Spaying and neutering is the most effective tool in preventing unplanned litters and reducing the number of stray and surrendered animals entering local shelters. Managing overpopulation helps individual owners and also strengthens community health by reducing roaming animals, easing shelter overcrowding, and decreasing long-term strain on animal welfare resources.

This is the seventh free clinic the city has hosted since 2024. The previous six clinics provided spay/neuter services to more than 6,000 pets. The upcoming clinic is expected to complete approximately 1,200 surgeries in just five days. It is a significant investment in prevention that helps reduce future shelter intake and supports responsible pet ownership across Austin.

High-volume, high-quality spay/neuter clinics offered at no cost are rare, and many pet owners face procedure costs ranging from $75 to several hundred dollars, along with wait times that can stretch for weeks or months. This clinic removes those barriers by providing same-day services at no charge.

“This clinic is about prevention,” said Austin Animal Services Director Monica Dangler. “When we provide accessible spay and neuter services, we’re helping families care for their pets while also reducing strain on shelters like ours and improving safety across our community.”

AUSTIN, Texas — February is typically one of our cooler months in Austin, Texas.

In 2021, a series of ice storms and snow storms caused mass chaos and is a winter storm that Austinites will never forget. Now, instead of worrying about scraping ice off of our cars, we’re grabbing the swimsuits.

Austin is in the midst of one of the warmest February’s in the city’s history. This year’s January cold snap lingered around for Feb. 1, but since then, only two days have been slightly below average. Compare that with 20 days above average, with the rest of this month expected to have temps in the mid to upper 80s.

But how does this compare to our warmest February ever? We don’t have to go back too far to find the hottest February on record in 2017. The average high temp was 76.5 degrees with 12 out of the 28 days spent above 80 degrees.

Other years in the top 5 were 1999, 1976, and 1957 with each year having numerous days above 80 degrees. So far, 2026 has ten. Plus, I’m forecasting 2 more 80 degree days. Should we hold onto this weather pattern, this will be in the top five hottest February’s of all-time.

For some, this heat may be just another day to grab the swimsuit or head outside and work up a sweat, but this has meteorologists sweating for different reasons. We are in a serious drought now.

The latest drought monitor released on Feb. 26, 2026 has 9 of the 13 counties in the CBS Austin viewing area in an “extreme drought,” which is the second worst category of drought conditions.

The latest drought monitor released on Feb. 26, 2026 has 9 of the 13 counties in the CBS Austin viewing area in an “extreme drought,” which is the second worst category of drought conditions. (Graphic: Michael Crowley)

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In the past 190 days, two of those days have had rainfall over 1 inch. Our current streak of 123 days in a row with less than 1 inch in rainfall is one of the longest since 2000.

Combine the heat and the rainless days, and you get a flash drought. Opposite of a flash flood, hot temperatures rapidly dry out the soil and drought conditions can worsen quickly. With the dehydrated vegetation, dry air, and above average temperatures, you’re now looking at dangerous fire weather.

We’ve already had several fires reported across Central Texas in just the past week. The Nebo Mountain Fire in Gillespie County and the Cedar Gulch Fire in Burnet County. With this above average heat and below average precipitation, we are especially vulnerable.

But there is some good news.

The start of March looks to be starting off very warm, but our pattern looks to become a bit more active. Our long-term futurecasts look to be favoring more showers and storms possible for the first few weeks of March.

Remember that we are also getting closer to our severe weather season. So while we do need the rain, we must remain safe in case we get locally high rainfall amounts in these thunderstorms and be mindful of tornadoes and damaging winds.

Hopefully we can see an improvement in this drought and heat, but history is made in different ways every year nowadays. Maybe it’ll be for the right reasons this time around.