One company is taking an early stab at forecasting eclipse weather in Evansville on April 8

Ryan Reynolds, Evansville Courier & Press
·2 min read

EVANSVILLE – The total solar eclipse is still just under a month away, but one company is taking an early crack at a crucial aspect for the day: the weather forecast.

AccuWeather has the Evansville/Tri-State area in the "fair" zone for potential viewing conditions on April 8.

The path of totality for the eclipse runs from Texas to Maine in the United States, passing through the Evansville area that day at 2:02 p.m. CST and lasting for just over three minutes.

AccuWeather thinks the best weather that day will be in southern Texas, then from central Indiana through western New York. Its outlook for the rest of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine is for "poor" conditions.

Still, more meteorologists will tell you that while weather forecasting has improved thanks to satellite technology and more advanced modeling, it's still tough to pinpoint conditions for anytime beyond a few days for now.

Paul Pastelok, a long-range forecaster for AccuWeather, said: "There is a good possibility that a cold front will be moving across the central and eastern U.S. near the time of the eclipse."

The exact timing and location of the front could be the difference between clear skies and cloud-filled skies that could wreck eclipse viewing plans, AccuWeather said in a news release.

According to climatology datasets issued by the National Weather Service, there was "measurable rain" in Evansville on April 8 in 42% of years from 1897 through 2023. The weather service offered the same data for six select cities within the path of the total solar eclipse, including Evansville. The others were Paducah, Kentucky, Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff in Missouri and Carbondale, and Mount Vernon in Illinois.

Local tourism officials are expecting a giant influx of people to the city that day for the eclipse. Estimates have ranged from 80,000 to as many as 100,000.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Weather forecast for Evansville on eclipse day, April 8