ECLIPSE FORECAST: Some clouds for eclipse day, but don’t throw in the towel just yet…

A once-in-a-lifetime event: the path of a total solar eclipse will pass through parts of San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country around 1:30 p.m. on Monday, April 8.

Ideally, skies would be clear and we would have a straightforward eclipse-viewing experience: watching the gradual transition as the moon passes in front of the sun and eventually blocking out the sun completely. Darkness would fall in the path of totality, and the sun’s white corona would be visible.

Unfortunately, forecasts for San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country are trending away from a completely clear view of the eclipse. However, you will still be able to view parts of – and experience – the solar eclipse.

This is what you need to know:

KEY POINTS:

Clouds – especially high, translucent cirrus clouds – are likely during the April 8 total solar eclipse
The questions that remain regard the timing and coverage of any low clouds, and if they can break up at all by Monday afternoon
Your viewing experience will depend greatly on the type of clouds overhead — and that kind of specific forecasting is not possible until a couple of days before Monday, April 8

Here’s a look at some possible scenarios, depending on the types of clouds you may see:

HIGH-LEVEL CLOUDS (CIRRUS CLOUDS)

You will still be able to see some of the transition through high-level clouds. It just depends on how thin or thick that cloud layer will be. If you’re in the path of totality, darkness would still fall dramatically for the duration of totality. You’ll notice a temperature drop, too.

THICK, LOW CLOUDS

If overcast, the entire eclipse transition experience would be hidden. Those outside of the path of totality may not notice much other than the sky getting a little dimmer.

The good news? Those along the path of totality would still experience complete darkness – like the middle of the night. And darkness would fall quicker than any sunset you’ve ever experienced. There would also still be a small temperature drop over the course of the eclipse. Still, a completely overcast sky is worst-case scenario on eclipse day.

A better scenario would be if the morning cloud cover can break up a bit by the early afternoon, we could catch a glimpse of the eclipse through the passing clouds.

What we’ll need to finetune over the next few days as more high-resolution data comes in: where will low clouds be present on Monday? What will the coverage look like? Will we see breaks in the cloud cover? If so, at what point in the day will the clouds start to break up?

More details to come!