TOLEDO, Ohio — In a wild and somewhat unusual turn of events, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois could boast some of the best locations to view the total solar eclipse on April 8.
The cloud cover forecast for the path of totality is far from what anyone could have imagined months ago based on early April cloud climatology. Areas that had a very high chance of clear skies in Mexico and Texas may be very cloudy instead.
This is disastrous for many eclipse chasers that were banking on making those southern locations their destination to view the total solar eclipse, based on what usually would be the most favorable and likely to bring clear skies.
The overall weather pattern is now coming into focus with finer details and speaks otherwise.
A small window of opportunity may bring much better viewing conditions elsewhere as an upper-level low-pressure system impacts the Lone Star state.
This means Ohio, Indiana and Illinois along with parts of New England may be the best locations for higher chances of clearer skies on Monday afternoon.
This is wild and what nobody would have guessed months ago.
Below is a map that shows average early April cloud cover based on climatology:
The WTOL 11 Weather team is cautious, but growing hopefully optimistic of partly sunny skies (around 30% cloud cover by totality) in northwest Ohio for the total solar eclipse.
That would make for a spectacular event for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Here is a look at the details of the total solar eclipse and a description of the totality on the afternoon of April 8 in downtown Toledo.
The few short minutes in totality will make all the difference in viewing the total solar eclipse:
MORE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE COVERAGE FROM WTOL 11 NEWS:
Want more from WTOL 11 news?
➡️ Download the WTOL 11 news app for Apple here or get it in the Google store here.
➡️ Get a fresh start to your morning and wrap up your day with the latest news and your WTOL 11 Weather forecast delivered right to your inbox!
WTOL 11's Your Morning Blast and Your Evening Blast deliver stories from northwest Ohio, southeast Michigan and beyond to keep you informed. Click here to get on the list!
➡️ Looking for the lowest current local gas prices? Check out the WTOL 11 gas price tracker, powered by Gas Buddy, here.
➡️ Stay up to date on what's happening in your community with a 24/7 live stream and on-demand content from WTOL 11+. Our free WTOL 11+ apps are available on Roku and Fire TV.
WTOL 11+ features the latest breaking news and weather, plus daily talk shows, coverage of your favorite sports teams from Locked On, fact-checking from VERIFY and the latest trending stories from Daily Blast Live.