Will Clouds Block Your View Of The Annular Solar Eclipse This Weekend?

For some odd reason, the song “Jack and Diane” by John Mellencamp was in my head as wrote this essay. Mellencamp proclaimed in that song that it was a “little dittie” about young lovers. This is a “little description” of a question that many people may be asking as we approach Saturday October 14th, 2023. By now, you probably know that an Annular solar eclipse is expected and much of the Americas, including the United States. Will clouds allow you to see it?

Before diving into the cloud forecast, let’s explore how an Annular solar eclipse differs from a Total solar eclipse. The National Weather Service website notes, “A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, casting the Moon’s shadow on Earth. For this to happen, the New Moon phase is required. Humming Duran Duran’s “New Moon on Monday” all of a sudden. The NWS website goes on to say,”The Moon’s orbit is titled 5 degrees to Earth’s orbit around the Sun….a solar eclipse is a relatively rare phenomena and a Total or Annular eclipse even more rare, with the Hybrid eclipse the rarest of all.” Here are some other facts about Annular eclipses provided by the National Weather Service:

• The moon can be as close as 221,000 miles from Earth (perigee) and as far as 252,000 miles (apogee).
• At perigee, the Moon appears larger than the Sun and can completely obscure the Sun (Total Solar Eclipse) and produce a signture corona. The Umbral shadow is cast.
• Annular eclipses happen at perigee. The shadow does not reach Earth, but a “negative” or antumbral shadow does. Within that antumbral shadow, a solar eclipse with a thinner ring of brightness is visible. That ring is called an annulus.

On October 14th, 2023 most of the Americas will experience an Annular eclipse. According to NASA’s webste, “In the U.S., the annular solar eclipse begins in Oregon at 9:13 a.m. PDT and ends in Texas at 12:03 p.m. CDT.” For optimal viewing locations and stages in the U.S., click this NASA link or see the map above.

However, what is the expected sky cover conditions during this time frame? Fortunately, much of the optimal viewing region in the path of the eclipse looks somewhat favorable. The map above shows projected sky cover at 11 am Eastern for the United States. According to the National Weather Service, sky cover is “The expected amount of opaque clouds (in percent) covering the sky valid for the indicated hour.” Unfortunately, much of the Eastern and Upper Midwest U.S. will be covered in clouds. Most of the West and lower Great Plains is expected to have less cloud cover and better viewing conditions.

If it is cloudy where you are, the table below provides your next chance. However, tomorrow many people will be doing like U2 and “Staring at the Sun.”

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