Good news for eclipse viewers in Kansas City: Forecast is now ‘mostly sunny’

The official forecast for eclipse day in Kansas City is now “mostly sunny.”

That’s good news, ironically, for a day in which we hope to see the sun obscured by the moon.

The National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill continues to update its forecast for the total solar eclipse on Monday, the path of which will traverse the country and pass over St. Joseph and roughly the northern half of Kansas City just after 1 p.m.

The forecast for Kansas City International Airport is “mostly sunny” with a high temperature near 88 degrees. The forecast for St. Joseph, however, is “partly cloudy.”

But these things can change daily.

“While there continues to be quite a bit of variability in model solutions for next Monday, there are some signals that indicate that eclipse viewers in Missouri may get lucky in dodging stormy weather,” the weather service said on its website. “However, we continue to see the region in an unsettled pattern, which means that storm chances are not zero, along with the potential for clouds to hinder at least portions of the display.”

It is too early to say where the ideal locations for eclipse viewing will be.

Historical data indicate the frequency of rain on Aug. 21 at Kansas City International Airport is 22 percent.

Another chart on the weather service website, based on historical cloudiness, says the viewability percentage for Kansas City at 1:07 p.m. — peak eclipse time here — is 49 percent. A higher percentage means the view is more likely to have fewer clouds.

This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Good news for eclipse viewers in Kansas City: Forecast is now ‘mostly sunny’."