Clouds, Smoke and the Eclipse in Casper; Looking Ahead at the Weather [VIDEO]
There has been a lot of speculation, and worry about weather conditions the day of the total solar eclipse on August 21st.
Some weather sites are attempting extremely long range forecasts and the results vary from clear to very cloudy.
So we went to the expert, meteorologist Don Day of Day Weather.
“Honestly, the middle of next week is when our confidence level will go up,” he said. “That’s when we can start to use our tools, our computer models to where they start to get more accurate. Right now, it is simply far to early.”
But, there are some weather trends heading our way that can give some hope that the day of the eclipse will make for great viewing.
“The current pattern we’re in,” Day told us,” with clouds and intermittent rain will start to move out. We should see a high pressure area develop over the Rockies, which is exactly what we want. It should settle in by next Friday and bring fewer clouds, lower humidity and warmer temperatures.”
Don Day also said the reason we have been seeing so much smoke lately is that the predominant winds have been from the northwest, bring haze from fires in Oregon, Idaho and California.
But he says, again late next week, the winds will shift to the south blowing the other direction. That will blow the smoke away from the area.
Day says if both conditions prevail as predicted, we have a good chance of a clear day, and with luck, thousands of visitors won’t go away disappointed.