CINCINNATI — We are officially less than a month away from the April 8 solar eclipse!
The big question on our weather team's mind: Will we even be able to see it, or will it be cloudy? We can look at the historical data to give us an idea of what to expect this far out.
We all know the saying, "April Showers bring May flowers." Right off the bat we know April already has several days of rain, but what about cloud cover? Which will be the deciding factor if we get to fully experience the Solar Eclipse.
The National Weather Service put out the historical data for our area, and it doesn't look great. Over the recorded history, April 8 has a 60% to 80% of being cloudy in the Cincinnati area. Those odds worsen the further north you go.
We also have to take in account we are in an El Nino. We look at that more specific map and the odds decrease even more but only slightly.
This of course doesn't mean (yet) we won't get lucky and see sunny skies on April 8. Over the last 15 years specifically we have seen 3 sunny afternoons in Cincinnati. The latest such afternoon being in 2020.
Bottom line: keep your fingers crossed as we get closer to the big day. The 9 First Warning Weather Team will be tracking this closely as we get closer to April 8.
READ MORE:
'Fuel might be gone': Safety officials warn public in solar eclipse path of totality to be prepared
Best places to view the April 8 eclipse path, and how long it lasts in the Tri-State
Rural towns in April solar eclipse's path of totality prepare for massive population influx
