Map shows San Antonio may be worst spot to view eclipse in Texas

Sorry, Texas: The National Weather Service continues to monitor the weather forecast for the day of the total solar eclipse, and things aren’t looking great. However, forecasters say it’s not time to lose all hope just yet as cloud coverage could be light and because weather patterns can change pretty quickly during the volatile spring season.

Currently, a front is expected to move across South Central Texas both the weekend before April 8 and the day of, causing rain chances and cloud coverage to tick upward.

“Some of the main points for the weather forecast is that the pattern we’re going to be actually having on April 8 is going to be a pretty favorable pattern to actually get some clouds at some point and then also have some – I’m going to say not large rain chances,” National Weather Service Meteorologist said during a weather briefing. “But somewhere in the low and medium sort of fain chance area. However, there is still a lot of uncertainty.”

Spring is a volatile time in terms of whether, with fast-moving fronts and weather systems which can wreak havoc on any kind of long-ranger forecasting. However, if the weekend front, which is slated to bring a roughly 30-40% chance of rain to San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country that day, doesn’t linger, Yura says it may be high-level clouds that could still offer decent views of the total eclipse.

Yura said a 10-day forecast shows a low-pressure system to the West of Texas, likely somewhere in the four-corners region or in Southern California, which brings some high- to mid-level moisture from the Southwest, namely the Pacific Ocean, through Mexico and into Texas. This weather pattern tends to bring at least high-level clouds to South Central Texas.

“Now, the good news with that is that even if we have just high clouds over us for eclipse day, those tend to be pretty translucent,” Yura said. “So, you can tend to see an eclipse sort of event through high clouds. So, that’s kind of one part of good news there.”

An even more concerning weather development includes two fronts on either side of the eclipse window are set to sweep across South Central Texas the weekend before and in the later hours of April 8. However, it’s nearly impossible to know exactly how long those fronts will linger, and, thus, it’s difficult to determine whether eclipse visibility will be hindered by lingering storms.

“If the front actually scoots by far enough from us, then that may actually serve a very favorable pattern then at least maybe for Monday,” Yura said. “The bad news is if this front kind of lags around and kind of just sticks around the area, we won’t get that big dry air push and then clouds may be thicker and rain chances may kind of go up a little bit.”

While there’s still hope that the eclipse will be visible from areas in Texas, cloud coverage forecasts for the day show San Antonio may be the least favorable spot to be during the celestial phenomenon. There’s one caveat that Yura really wanted to drive home: Cloud coverage is very tricky to predict, especially just under a week out from the total solar eclipse. However, current models show the further north from San Antonio you go, the better your visibility will be.

Even if there’s a bit of cloud coverage come Monday, April 8, UTSA Astronomy Department Eclipse Coordinator Lindsay Fuller says it’ll still be worth finding a place to perch for the experience.

“So, you still will be able to experience that darkening aspect,” Fuller told MySA. “As the forecast says, right now, there will be scattered thunderstorms on that day. SO, my assumption is that there are going to be pockets of clouds and pockets of clear skies. So, just hope that you’re in that clear pocket during totality.”