What is the long-range forecast in southcentral Pennsylvania for the solar eclipse?
A much-anticipated solar eclipse will cross over Pennsylvania on April 8, but will the skies be clear in Adams, Lebanon and York counties to see it?
It's still a little too early to tell, AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Paul Pastelok said, but at this point, the area could see enough breaks in the clouds to see it.
Residents in southcentral Pennsylvania already are making plans to watch the celestial event. Some students will head outside to witness it, weather permitting.
Observers in southcentral Pennsylvania will see more than 90 percent of the solar eclipse if it's not cloudy. Some areas of the state, such as Erie, are in the path of totality, where the moon's shadow will completely cover the sun.
Celestial event: When was the last total solar eclipse in York County? Hint: A very long time ago.
What will it be cloudy in southcentral Pa. for the solar eclipse?
AccuWeather.com recently issued its first cloud outlook for the solar eclipse. The forecast is based on long-range forecasters identifying weather patterns and emerging trends.
It placed southcentral Pennsylvania in the red zone for a high chance of cloud cover.
However, the event is still weeks away, which makes it difficult to determine specifically what will happen that day, meteorologists say.
It's not just storms that could put a damper on seeing the eclipse. Spring brings a higher chance of clouds than in the middle of summer, Pastelok said.
It looks like the bad weather will be over the middle of the country, Pastelok said this week.
Locally, it appears that a storm system might depart on the night of the April 7, and the area might see some clearing, he said.
"I don't think it's going to be fantastic," he said of the view.
But that could change, and Pastelok advised to check over the next couple of weeks to get a better forecast.
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Weather forecasts for the eclipse are a 'stab in the dark' right now
Kyle Elliott, director of the Weather Information Center at Millersville University, had this to say about the early weather predictions:
"Meteorologists can often provide a broad and generic overview of large-scale weather patterns several weeks in advance, but smaller-scale and fine-tuned details such as sky cover, precipitation, and day-to-day temperatures in a certain location are impossible to predict more than 7-10 days in advance. With April 8th still about 3 weeks away, forecasts and/or maps of expected sky conditions on April 8th are a mere 'stab in the dark' at this distance and based primarily on early-April climatology."
Elliott said he plans to issue a forecast for the eclipse closer to the event.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Solar eclipse 2024: What's the long-range forecast for Adams, Lebanon and York
