It's a total eclipse in the DARK! Eager eclipse hunters flock to viewing parties at stargazing hotspots (despite cloud and thunderstorms set to spoil celebrations)

Wealthy 'eclipse hunters' have not been discouraged by recent weather predictions that clouds might obscure Monday's solar eclipse.

Instead, plans for their extravagant eclipse-viewing parties and festivals are continuing apace. Eclipse hunters continue to head south to Texas for auspicious viewing conditions.

On Monday, there will be a 'total' solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon and the sun are perfectly aligned. The moon blots the sun out from the sky and the world is temporarily drowned in shadows.

The last solar eclipse occurred in December 2021, and the last solar eclipse visible in America occurred in August 2017.

Although newly announced forecasts are ominous, suggesting thunderstorms and cloud coverage that could limit visibility, deep-pocketed thrill-seekers are undiscouraged.

Bill Perkins, the founder and managing partner of Skylar Capital, a Houston-based hedge fund, will be hosting 200 people at his Austin lake house to commemorate the solar phenomenon.

Rain and lightning forecasts have not dissuaded the hedge fund manager from throwing his lavish party, which will feature a petting zoo, astronomy lessons, and cutting-edge telescopes.

The private bash will also offer attendees live musical performances. Sofi Tukker, Ryan Tedder, the frontman for OneRepublic, and Yassin Bey, the rapper formerly known as Mos Def, will all perform.

Perkins told the San Francisco Standard that he was 'always looking for a reason to throw a party'.

Conjuring up Carl Sagan, Perkins observed that the eclipse was 'one of those things that reminds us that we're on a small blue ball, with a sun, spiraling through space.'

On Monday, the total solar eclipse will be visible along a 'path of totality', starting in Mexico and moving through Texas where it will travel up to New England and finish in Canada.

In any one location along the path of totality, people will see a partial eclipse followed by the total eclipse, and then a partial eclipse again.

Whatever your location along the path of totality, the total eclipse should be visible for about four minutes.

Totality will begin in Dallas around 1:40pm and last until 1:44 CDT.

Sheel Mohnot, a general partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a venture capital company based in San Francisco, told the Standard that he would be watching the eclipse from his friend's ranch in Dallas. They will camp, and they've installed additional bathrooms to accommodate their 45-person group.

And Joshua Baer, the founder of venture capital firm Capital Factory, is planning an extremely extravagant revelry, at which famous physicists will address the 200-person crowd.

Baer also arranged for a team of skydivers, wielding American flags, to hop out of planes at the last moment of totality.

But many eclipse hunters are heading to Burnet, which is 90 minutes outside of Austin.

In Burnet, there will be the 'Texas Eclipse Festival,' an event that has been likened to burning man. 

The festival, which will continue into Tuesday, will feature concerts, speeches from astronauts, and art installations. 

It will also offer attendees yoga, movement, and mindfulness classes. 

The festival's website refers to the event as 'once-in-a-lifetime,' and ticket prices start at $249.

Drone footage posted on TikTok revealed how the city of Burnet had been taken over by the festival.  In the video, tents are crammed together in narrow rows. The parking lots are overflowing with cars. 

The desire to watch the eclipse, it seems, has not been injured by dismal weather forecasts.

Another TikToker posted a video in which a Texas highway was choked with traffic from the influx of tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of the eclipse.

Within the path of totality, the cities that will receive the most visitors are Austin and Indianapolis followed by Cleveland, Dallas, and Montreal.

Most of the travelers will hail from New York City or Mexico City.

The eclipse– which briefly turns the outdoors dark in daytime – will be visible for an estimated 32 million people along a narrow strip of North and Central America.

Parts of Texas, including Dallas, are facing an increased risk of view-obscuring thunderstorms.

And apart from inauspicious weather, there will also be an increase in traffic to contend with.

During the solar eclipse in 2017, there was a significant increase in traffic risks, according to CNN.

But tourists appear to be undaunted. The next solar eclipse of this magnitude won't occur again until 2079, making Monday's event a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many.

Dr. Greg Brown, astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told MailOnline: 'For observers in North America, this is your best chance to see a total solar eclipse this decade.

'Nothing quite compares to the day-turned-night that comes from a total eclipse.'