A total lunar eclipse expected to create views of a blood-red moon will be visible tonight throughout most of North America, weather permitting.

In Douglas County, weather may not permit. Cloud cover is expected all day today and into the night.

“Cross your fingers and hope for a break,” 6News meteorologist Matt Sayers said.

The event would be the only eclipse — solar or lunar — visible from nearly all of North America this year, said Fred Espenak, an astronomer at the National Aeronautic and Space Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. A partial solar eclipse Oct. 14 was visible from some parts of Alaska.

Such an ideal viewing opportunity will not occur again until 2008, astronomers said. The only area in North America that won’t be able to see the eclipse in its entirety will be western Alaska.

In the Central time zone, the total eclipse phase will occur from 9:23 p.m. until 10:45 p.m. The eclipse will begin at 8:14 p.m., when the moon’s leading edge hits the umbra, or Earth’s dark inner shadow.

“The moon should have a deep red color during the total (eclipse) phase,” Espenak said.

In a total eclipse, the entire moon passes through Earth’s shadow. The result can be an orange, red or brown moon and occasionally a gray one.

The strange light on a totally eclipsed moon is the combined illumination from all the sunrises and sunsets ringing the Earth at the time, according to Sky and Telescope magazine.