The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood before the great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
Joel 2:31 

If you were following my work pre-2012 you might have seen my research connecting lunar eclipses with major earthquakes. Basically the odds of a 7.5+ quake doubles in the days surrounding a lunar eclipse.

That does not mean a big quake will certainly happen, it is still a 1-in-33 (each day) chance compared to a 1-in-74 chance on normal days.

What it does suggest to me is that a 10+ megaquake (that many experts say is impossible) would be more likely near an eclipse. In simplistic terms, there’s a tug-of-gravitational-war between the Sun, Earth and Moon, with us smack in the middle.

This particular eclipse (Tuesday morning USA time) is known as a blood moon, although SpaceWeather.com says it will be orange:

The color of Earth’s shadow, and thus the color of the eclipsed Moon, depends substantially on the amount of volcanic ash and other aerosols floating in the stratosphere. According to atmospheric sciences professor Richard Keen of the University of Colorado, the stratosphere is clear. This means the eclipse will be not “blood red,” but rather bright orange.

See for yourself. The event will be visible from Australia, New Zealand, and all of the Americas: visibility map. It’s so bright, even observers in light-polluted cities will have no trouble enjoying the show. Got clouds? No problem. The event will be broadcast live on the web by the Coca-Cola Science Center at Columbus State University in Georgia.

You may have noticed there has been quite a bit of 6.0+ earthquake activity in the last week – Chile, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands –  so hopefully there’s nothing left in the tank.