Kansas weather conditions for eclipse still up in the air

The Aug. 21 solar eclipse promises to be a special event. That is, if cloud cover doesn’t steal the show.

Weather can often foil astronomers’ plans for the night. But concerns about the Monday afternoon take on a special urgency with the unique nature of this event, which many towns and enthusiasts have been preparing for for months.

“We’re just praying that our little corner of Kansas here has sun,” said Michelle Whitesell, director of tourism in Marysville, a Marshall County town north of Manhattan.

The Wichita area will see a partial eclipse with around 92 percent of the sun covered shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday.

Chance Hayes, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Wichita branch, said forecasting the amount of cloud cover comes with some nuance.

“At this point … They’re anticipating mainly mid and upper-level clouds,” Hayes said, referring to altocumulus clouds, altostratus or cirrus clouds projected for the Wichita area around the time of the eclipse.

“There’s still going to be a few breaks in there or it could be thin enough to see through it,” he added.

But the more north you go, the more cloud cover is projected for early Monday afternoon, said Audra Hennecke, a meteorologist in the service’s Topeka branch.

“There’s going to be a pretty chance for at least partly cloudy skies,” she said. “We’re still trying to fine tune the tracking of that.”

The Kansas City area’s outlook is “looking uncertain at this point” due to some clouds to the west and precipitation in the area before the eclipse, said Dan Hawblitzel, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Pleasant Hill, Mo.

“We could have some showers and storms in the morning, which could leave some clouds behind,” he said. “If the things are timed out right between those systems, there could be some clear skies.”

Northwest Kansas may see some thunderstorms develop later Monday afternoon, said the weather service’s Goodland meteorologist Daniel Robinson.

“We could have some high clouds moving across the region,” he said. “That could thicken up enough to completely block views.”

“It’s going to be on the edge there in terms of sky cover,” he added.

This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Kansas weather conditions for eclipse still up in the air."