While it's still far too early to know with any certainty whether the skies of Northeast Ohio will be covered in clouds on the day of the solar eclipse, based on the historical weather records from that day, you may not want to know the odds.
News 5 Chief Meteorologist Mark Johnson looked back at over 40 years worth of cloud cover records for Northeast Ohio, going back to 1979, and found that historically, on an April 8 afternoon, cloud cover is generally 60-80%, on average. “Now that doesn’t mean we won’t full sunshine and warm temps, but the odds are that we’re going to have to be dealing with some clouds,” Johnson said.
If you’re looking for a silver lining to these particular clouds, note that the historical data does show a slightly lower chance of cloud cover for Cleveland and other areas along the Lake Erie coast – 60% to 70% compared to 80% to 90% for other parts of Ohio in the path of totality.Of course, we won’t have specific forecasts until much closer to the eclipse – think four to five days out. Stay tuned to News 5 and download the News 5 app for the latest forecasts as we approach the big day.