Eclipse 2024 weather in Western WA: Clouds, clouds and more clouds

Yes, the eclipse is happening Monday morning. No, we won’t be able to see it.

Those looking skyward across Western Washington will instead enjoy views of varying shades of gray, perhaps having to dodge a raindrop or two while they’re at it.

“What we see out there right now is not going to change,” said Jacob DeFlitch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

By the time the eclipse starts in Seattle at 10:29 a.m., a weather system will have fully moved into the region, DeFlitch said, “so unfortunately, it’s bad timing. We won’t be able to see the eclipse.”

The eclipse, behind the clouds, will peak at 11:29 a.m. and end at 12:21 p.m. in Seattle.

Even if the sky was clear, it wouldn’t change from day to dusk for us in Western Washington, as the moon will cover only about 20% of the sun.

But alas, high and midlevel clouds began crowding the atmosphere overnight, according to the weather service.

As Monday morning progresses, rain showers will continue their trek inland from the west and are expected to reach the Puget Sound interior, and then the Cascades, by late morning.

This is, of course, in perfect timing with the aforementioned eclipse.

For viewers in the eclipse’s path of totality — a 115-mile-wide band stretching from Mazatlán, Mexico, to Newfoundland, Canada — the moon will completely block the face of the sun and create a total solar eclipse as it passes between the sun and Earth. This is the last total solar eclipse to be visible from North America until 2044.

Clouds are expected to blanket much of the path of totality, too.

In areas of the path not covered by clouds, the moon will create a spot-shaped shadow that will race eastward as the sun moves westward in the sky. Viewers will stand in that shadow and witness the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, which is too dim to see when the sun is not covered.

But not all hope is lost for those stuck under clouds! NASA will be livestreaming the event online.