Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Meteorology is a science, not an art, and forecasters already know some of the science that will play into the forecast for Buffalo-Niagara for the total solar eclipse this Monday, April 8.
"It does look like weather-wise and temperature-wise, a pretty nice day," National Weather Service meteorologist John Hitchcock tells WBEN. "We expect dry weather and turning warmer as we go through early next week, probably 55-to-60."
Sounds nice for a routine spring day, however for eclipse day, it's all about the visibility and the cloud cover.
That's where some uncertainty lies and where we should all be patient for an accurate forecast, or simply wait to see what actually happens.
"While we'll be dry, there's a system off to our west and that could spread high clouds into our area as we go through the day," Hitchcock cautions. "And that's going to be highly uncertain for a number of days to come."
Hitchcock says if the high clouds are thin, as they were Monday, that may still offer some decent viewing.
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So, when might we get a cloud cover forecast that offers us some concrete help in determining our eclipse plans and probability of a clear view locally?
"It's going to be quite some time before we know," Hitchcock says. "Cloud cover is difficult and fickle to forecast. We might not have a really confident handle on it until maybe a day or two before the eclipse."
"Stay tuned on cloud cover," Hitchcock says.