NORFOLK, Va. — We're now a week out from the April 8 solar eclipse in the United States. Some will experience totality while others gaze upon a partial eclipse. Regardless, the weather conditions will play a monumental role in whether you'll have a good view or not.
The eclipse will take place on April 8, passing through Mexico, the United States and Canada. NASA's 2024 eclipse map shows the totality path, or "umbra," spans in a northeasterly direction from southern Texas through parts of the Midwest and northeastern parts of the country. In Virginia, the obscurity of the sunshine increases the further west or north you go.
Days out, we're well within range of our lower-resolution forecast models and for sky conditions in Hampton Roads the consensus is split.
The GFS or American model signals the possibility of a mostly overcast sky at the time of peak eclipse around 3:20 pm on April 8. However, the European model is mostly clear.
This disagreement between these two models pretty much falls right in line with our historical cloud cover chances on April 8, 50/50. Not very helpful, I know.
Viewing conditions across the country are looking, at this point in time mostly unfavorable. The map below depicts areas with poor viewing conditions (red), versus good viewing conditions (green).
Don't give up just yet! The good news is that we still have a week to watch the forecast evolve. This can and likely will change, in some places for the better!
