The latest on our Solar Eclipse forecast
Meteorologist Jordan Smith has your Sunday evening ABC 36 Storm Team forecast
Lexington, Kentucky (WTVQ – ABC 36): Good Sunday evening everyone, all eyes continue to be on our Monday as it is the big Solar Eclipse day across the country. In the short term, we are tracking scattered showers and storms moving into the area. Those will last into Monday morning.
Odds favor that the rain and storms get out of town by the afternoon which is important because that of course is the great solar eclipse. But unfortunately, we could very well keep clouds around during the eclipse. This model is stopped at 3:00pm which is right when we can expect our maximum coverage of the eclipse across central and eastern Kentucky. Here is hoping this model doesn’t verify and we end up with much more clearing. You can see areas in the north and west have a a much more better chance at clearing skies out. That would be good news since that areas of the state is closer to total totality.
Here is a broad map showing cloud cover vs no cloud cover for the entire totality path.
As you can see, northern Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana have the best opportunity at seeing clear skies in the path of totality. Now to a little information on our Solar Eclipse. Here is a look at around what percentage each part of the country can see in terms of totality.
All of central and eastern Kentucky is in the greater than 90% with most areas between 93% to 97%. Now to a look at exact times across central and eastern Kentucky for maximum totality.
I HIGHLY encourage every to get outside during this time if you can and experience this INCREDIBLE phenomenon. But because we will not be in total totality across our area, DO NOT look up to the sun without eclipse glasses. After the eclipse is over, we focus on a very active setup for Tuesday – Friday which looks to feature several rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms across Kentucky and surrounding areas. It is not a washout any of these days, but it’ll be close.
A few storms can be strong or severe and we also need to be on guard for high water issues as a lot of rain can fall during this time period.
As always, stay with the ABC 36 Storm Team on-air and online for updates. #kywx
