Odds high that clouds will obscure solar eclipse in most of Minnesota

The moon will pass between the sun and Earth just after 2 p.m. Monday, but people in the Twin Cities and most of Minnesota are not likely to see any of it.

That’s if the current weather forecast holds, anyway. Several weather models suggest clouds will obscure the rare and highly anticipated solar eclipse, forcing those wanting to catch a glimpse of the astronomical event to watch it on TV.

“Bad timing,” said meteorologist Eric Ahasic of the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. “It’s not looking great.”

Of course, there is always a chance the clouds will part just in the nick of time. But odds are slim, the Storm Prediction Center says. An arm of the National Weather Service that tracks severe weather, the center predicts an 80% to 90% chance of cloud cover across all of Minnesota, and a greater than 50% chance in the neighboring states.

“Clouds are tricky to forecast,” Ahasic said. Weather patterns could be different three days from now, he said, but models are trending against clear skies.

Minnesota is north of the path of totality, those areas where the moon will entirely block the sun. But should the skies clear here, viewers — always wear appropriate safety glasses — will be able to see the moon cover a good chunk of the sun. At its peak, about 74% of the sun will be blocked out in the Twin Cities at 2:02 p.m., NASA said.

In Rochester, 78.4% of the sun will be hidden, and in Winona, Minn., that rises to almost 80%, according to NASA.

But, a long road trip will be necessary to see the first total solar eclipse in the United States since Aug. 21, 2017, Ahasic said. The path of totality is about 100 miles wide and will bring a few minutes of midday darkness from Texas to Maine.

A swath of clear skies across southern Missouri into central Indiana may provide the closest place to catch the moon’s shadow moving across the south-central U.S. and into the Ohio River Valley and New England, where clear skies “are almost likely,” the Weather Service said.

In Minnesota, the sun will come out the day after the eclipse and temperatures will begin rise from the upper 40s and low 50s Monday to the mid-60s by Wednesday, the Weather Service said.