check for clouds

Heard about National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offering a "cloudiness" map for the big solar eclipse. The Ready Set Eclipse page has good information, helpful graphics, and an interactive map.

Personally, it was not news to me per se. The RASC Observer's Handbook features the Cloud Cover Frequency essay and charts (although, technically, for night-time scenarios). Many of us are going west, for geographic reasons and to be earlier rather than later, i.e. to avoid day-time heating weather effects. And basic, high school geography: you want to be in the arid and warm temperate zones on the leeward side of the mountain ranges. The map, based on 10 years of archived data, is quite telling. Wyoming will be a good spot.

I thought of friends and family in Ontario. Of course, the information is specific to the continental United States. Nothing above the border. But the information for Ohio, Penn, and New York should be good general indicators of likely conditions. And, frankly, they don't look good. Dark grey is bad.