A partial solar eclipse is coming this weekend, but weather could be an issue for many hoping to get a glimpse of the moon "taking a bite" out of the sun.
Skywatchers across much of New York State, New England and Atlantic Canada who are hoping to get a view of Saturday morning's partial solar eclipse are unfortunately going to be at the mercy of a stationary weather system that will likely generate widespread cloudiness as well as a variety of precipitation ranging from rain, sleet and snow.
The front is expected to serve as the pathway for several waves of low pressure, with one moving east from the lower peninsula of Michigan, a second over Lake Huron, another over central New York and yet a fourth near Cape Cod. The broad area of unsettled weather being produced by this set-up is due chiefly to a marked contrast of airmasses.
Across northern New York State and central and northern New England, temperatures will be in the 30's and lower 40's. Meanwhile, over southwest New England, southern New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, temperatures will soar into the 70's and lower 80's.
Prospective eclipse watchers traveling to northern parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, as well as a slice of west-central Maine, likely will be bringing telescopes, cameras and special solar filters, but they may also need one additional item: A snow shovel. As much as one to four inches of snow is expected to be on the ground at eclipse time for these locations. Farther south, the snow will mix with and change to sleet and/or light rain.
Related: What time is the partial solar eclipse tomorrow?
Where to go to catch the sun show
And yet, in spite of the pessimistic outlook that was just presented, there are locations that will have a "fair chance" (about 40 to 60 percent) of getting a view of the partial eclipse.
This map shows the probabilities for getting a view of Saturday morning's solar eclipse. Places in the "Poor" zone are likely to have 70 to 100 percent cloud cover. Places in the zone indicated as "Fair" are expected to have 40 to 70 percent cloud cover, with enough breaks in the cloud cover to get some occasional good views of the eclipse. For parts of Southern New England, Southeast New York and Northern New Jersey, clouds might not break in time to catch a view of the rising sun in partial eclipse until the eclipse is over. To the left of the line denoted as "Western Limit of Zone of Partial Eclipse" the eclipse will end before sunrise.
A map showing weather probabilities for northeastern United States during a partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025. (Image credit: Joe Rao)In the state of Maine, the northern half of Aroostook County may be situated just far enough to the north of the zone of thick clouds to allow observers to some good views of the eclipse; possibly some mid-to-high level clouds will be present, but hopefully they will allow the moon at around sunup, with four-fifths or more of the sun's diameter eclipsed.
Take a bite!
Farther to the south, across southern New England and southeast New York, the question is, will low cloud cover break up in time to allow for a view of the eclipse? The closing stages of the eclipse will take place in the half hour following sunrise. It could very well be, that the sun will be stuck behind clouds during that short interval and will not break through until after the eclipse is over.
Farther south, across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the Delmarva Peninsula, skies should be partly to mostly sunny. But the amount of the sun that will be covered in this region will be quite small, amounting to only a bite or nibble or barely a nick in the sun's disk.
Latest forecasts
Take note that what we have provided here, are generalizations. To get the very latest updated forecast for the region you are hoping to view the eclipse from, Environment Canada provides a similar website.
So, what's the big deal?
Normally, a partial eclipse of the sun gets little, if any attention. In this particular case, however, over parts of Canada and northern New England, easily make one with some basic items from around your house.
But for a partial solar eclipse occurring at sunrise, the usual ground rules might be fraught with uncertainty. What if, for example, a thick layer of horizon haze significantly attenuates the sun's light, dimming and reddening it to such a degree that you're tempted to look directly at it? After all, just about everyone have watched sunrises (and sunsets) under such conditions. Or perhaps the sun passes behind a cloud that diminishes its light considerably.