Cloud watching: Solar eclipse’s grandeur may be shrouded

Clouds may mute the splendor of Monday’s solar eclipse in the Great Plains, forecasters warn.

“We’re probably not going to be crystal clear” for the eclipse in the Wichita area, National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Kleinsasser said.

A thin layer of mid- and high-level clouds is expected in southern Kansas at mid-day Monday, he said. If they’re not too thick, they shouldn’t obscure the eclipse. But uncertainty remains about how substantial the cloud cover will be.

“For the most part, it should be fairly visible,” Kleinsasser said.

Forecasters elsewhere in Kansas are less optimistic, however.

“The view could be blocked up here,” said Daniel Robinson, a meteorologist with the Goodland branch of the weather service.

Cloud cover will be widespread in the area Monday morning, though clouds will eventually begin to break up. The question is how soon that occurs.

Eclipse fans in northcentral Kansas will face a similar scenario as Wichita: Will layers of upper level clouds hide the sun?

“It’s not looking as promising as it did,” said Jennifer Prieto, a meteorologist with the Topeka branch of the weather service.

Predicting how dense cloud cover will be is “very difficult” days ahead of time, Prieto said. “I’ve never scrutinized high clouds so much in my career.”

The Kansas City area will have dense cloud cover on Monday, but there will be occasional breaks where the sun shines through, said Jared Leighton, a meteorologist with the Pleasant Hill branch of the weather service.

Because skies will be cloudy across much of Missouri and Nebraska, he said, eclipse fans may be better off sticking with their original plans and hoping for a timely break in the clouds than hitting the road in search of the sun.

“The one thing we can hope for is that there’s going to be some breaks in there,” Leighton said. “You can’t say where they are right now.”

This story was originally published August 19, 2017 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Cloud watching: Solar eclipse’s grandeur may be shrouded."