This article is part of a special report on the total solar eclipse that will be visible from parts of the U.S., Mexico and Canada on April 8, 2024.
Millions of people living in the 115-mile-wide path of April 8’s total solar eclipse—and the millions more who will travel to catch the awe-inspiring astronomical event—are crossing their fingers that the weather will cooperate.
For those anxiously refreshing the forecast page, the tough news is that cloud cover and precipitation are much trickier to predict than temperature. This is because the former involve so many small-scale processes in the atmosphere, and each of these factors can change quickly, hour-by-hour and even minute-by-minute. These processes “are incredibly difficult to predict even in real time,” says Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations at the U.S. National Weather Service’s (NWS’s) Weather Prediction Center. So even on eclipse day itself there won’t be total certainty; when mostly clear skies prevail, stray clouds can still roll by during the several minutes of totality (as frustratingly happened to this writer while viewing the 2017 eclipse in Nashville, Tenn.).
On supporting science journalism
If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
To help eager eclipse watchers prepare, Scientific American is keeping up with the daily forecast across the U.S. path of totality—which begins at about 1:27 P.M. CDT in Eagle Pass, Tex., and ends at about 3:35 P.M. EDT in Houlton, Me.—and is offering detailed information for a few major cities below. Forecasts will likely change, though, and when they do, we’ll be updating this article. So make sure to check back as the big day approaches.
Based on climatology (the long-term average weather conditions in a particular place at a particular time of…
Read the full article here
