Great Eclipse Viewing Today Followed By A Hot And Stormy Tuesday

Stormy skies last summer over Starksboro, Vermont.
Could be like this in parts of Vermont Tuesday.

Here in Vermont, we're only getting a partial eclipse of the sun today because we're well northeast of the path of totality. That, I suppose is the "bad" news.  

The good news is the partial eclipse is going to be quite visible as the skies will be mostly clear.

If it's cloudy and foggy early this morning at your house, don't worry, it will clear up.

During the eclipse this afternoon, there will only be a couple widely scattered clouds, and some haze high up above because of smoke billowing from Canadian wildfires.

That's why Sunday was so hazy on what was otherwise a lovely day.

Remember that sunglasses and camera lenses and the like won't protect your eyes from the sun, so don't look directly at the sun at all. Today or ever.

After the excitement of the eclipse dies down later today, we have some weather excitement for you on Tuesday.

You'll notice that as the day wears on today, it will slowly get more and more humid. Tonight will become rather oppressive, especially west of the Green Mountains. That will set the stage for some scattered incidents of big storms.

Some of the fuel for the fire will come from the heat and humidity that will surge into Vermont and the rest of the Northeast Tuesday. Here in Vermont, dew points, a measure of how humid it is, will get to near or above 70.

That's really humid, and only happens a few times a summer. Meanwhile, some peeks of sun will bring temperatures well into the 80s, possibly flirting with 90 in a few spots.

Meanwhile, a strengthening storm over the Great Lakes will develop a strengthening cold front that will be approaching from the west.

All this brings together the ingredients for possibly severe thunderstorms.

At this point, the biggest threats from this appear to be strong, gusty winds and very torrential downpours, given the humidity.

Also at this point, the best chance for severe thunderstorms are over northern New York, which will be closest to the strongest instability.  But I'm sure Vermont will have some patches of rough weather, too.

The storms will probably reach their peak between 2 and 8 p.m. Tuesday. As always, it'll be hit and miss, with some areas getting blasted, and others wondering what all the fuss is about.

I'm sure there will be refinements and adjustments to this forecast of stormy weather, so check back with me on this tomorrow morning.

After this, it looks like we're in for an extended period of mostly dry weather, with a fair amount of sun, low humidity and cool-ish temperatures Wednesday through the weekend.

Yeah, fall is on its way, huh?

Predict Your Eclipse Experience Here

Vox has a cool interactive map that shows you the timing and the extent of the upcoming solar eclipse Monday.

Just type in your zip code and you will see what time the eclipse peaks in your area and to what extent the sun is covered by the moon.

For example, when I entered my St. Albans, Vermont zip code, I learned that at its 2:40 p.m. peak, 59.5 percent of the sun would be covered. I also learned I would have to travel 829 miles to the southwest if I wanted to see the total eclipse.

Click on this link to see it.

At this point, the weather forecast looks good for solar eclipse viewing in Vermont on Monday. The current National Weather Service forecast for Monday predicts mostly sunny skies with highs in the low 80s.