The weather lately has been fantastic. Lots of sunshine, crisp air and pleasant afternoon temperatures have made this a super second half of September. The only downside is how dry it’s become. The pattern is about to change, but I think we hold off the change just long enough to view the eclipse this evening.
I wrote a blog about the eclipse yesterday and you can click here to read more about the moon and why this is considered a “rare” event.

The eclipse starts this evening and will reach peak just after 10 p.m. This event will occur at a great time for the entire family to watch. You don’t need anything special, just a clear view of the eastern sky.

The map below shows the expected cloud cover for the country during the eclipse. The thickest clouds will be over southeastern areas of the country. The eclipse will not be viewable where the clouds are too thick. In New England there may be some high clouds over southern areas. Towards New York City the clouds might be too thick to get good view of the eclipse.

You can see the clearest skies are over our area in Maine, we are lucking out for a change with one of these astronomical events.

The eclipse looks quite different if you were on the moon. The earth will have a back lit appearance with reddish glow. The image is courtesy of NASA’s Visualization Lab.

Below is a chart of times of the eclipse in Portland. No matter where you are in Maine or even New England these times are close enough so you won’t notice any difference.

Turning Unsettled
There’s been a storm to the east of the Carolinas for many many days. This system has brought a lot of rain to that area, but high pressure to the north has been blocking this low pressure system from moving north. All good things must come to an end and during Tuesday and part of Wednesday some of this moisture, along with a cold front from the west, will combine to bring some rain.

After this system passes it will turn quite a bit colder and drier and for later Wednesday and Thursday. This should continue in to Friday. The weather may turn quite stormy Saturday with a windswept rain from another storm moving along the coast.

The storm for the October 3rd and 4th time period will need to be watched just like a winter nor’easter. Tides will still be astronomically high next weekend and were the storm to come close enough to the area it could bring beach erosion and even some coastal flooding. This is still a week away, but it does warrant mentioning, especially for coastal residents.

The warmest air over the upcoming days will be Monday and Tuesday with downright chilly air coming in for the second half of this week and lasting into next weekend. The humidity will be a factor for about 24 to 36 hours from later Monday through Tuesday when dew points rise into the 60s. With this added moisture any showers you do see could contain some heavy downpours.

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