Obligatory “Houston, we have a problem” quote. You might not need sunglasses after all next week for the solar eclipse. Forecasters are predicting cloudy conditions with possible storms on April 8, the day of the solar eclipse.
If you were lucky enough to book on one of the special Delta path-of-totality flights, you can rest comfortably knowing that your money was well spent. Otherwise, not to rain on your parade, but it looks like the weather will be doing just that on April 8.
With the eclipse less than a week away, forecasters are predicting cloudy conditions with the chance of rain and possible storms. Accuweather forecasts a 54% chance of rain with 34% probability of thunderstorms.
SpaceCityWeather also foresees grim conditions for the eclipse in Houston:
“Locally, in Houston, about 94 percent of the Sun will be covered on Monday at the peak of the eclipse. My preliminary forecast for next Monday is scattered to widespread rain showers with mostly cloudy skies,” the website reads.
“For areas along the line of totality in Texas, the outlook is not much better. The operational runs of both the GFS and European models have, consistently, shown nearly 100 percent cloud cover across much of the state during the early afternoon hours on Monday. There is a fair amount of support for this in the ensembles as an upper-level system crosses the southern plains. Many of these areas could see rain on Monday.”
The eclipse is set to take place between 1:30 and 1:40 pm on Monday, April 8. This eclipse sets itself apart from previous eclipses over the years due to its great path of totality that will be visible over 125 miles and its length of 4 minutes.
See also: 45 fabulous things to do this spring in Houston