Environment
Here Are the Cities With the Best Shot of Seeing the Eclipse
NASA has crunched the numbers on probable cloud cover and revealed the best places to watch the August 21 cosmic spectacle.
The path that the total solar eclipse will make over the U.S. this month is well known: a band running from Oregon through the Midwest into South Carolina. What’s not yet known, though, is whether the weather gods will royally screw eclipse fans by filling the heavens with dense, sun-snuffing clouds.
But never fear, eclipse-watchers: The folks at NASA’s Earth Observatory have your backs with two new visualizations showing how clear the atmosphere will likely be on August 21. The space agency blended satellite data from 2000 to 2016 to paint a representation of average cloud cover for that date, showing areas historically flooded with clouds in white and those prone to blue skies in blue.