‘A close call’: Will clouds exit in time to view the eclipse in Buffalo?

But will they exit in time for Buffalo to catch a glimpse of the total eclipse?

“It will be a close call,” the National Weather Service in Buffalo said in a post on X.

Cover by mid-level and high-level clouds is clearing from southwest to northeast, the weather service said.

In this area, a partial eclipse will begin just after 2 p.m., with a total eclipse starting at 3:18 p.m. and lasting nearly four minutes.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service earlier in the day said there’s a potential bright spot in an otherwise cloudy Eclipse Day forecast.

While models of cloud cover in the region show cloudy skies for the rare and highly anticipated celestial occurrence, forecasters kept open the possibility for some unobstructed views of the moon passing across the sun.

“There could be breaks & thinning of the clouds by the mid-afternoon,” the weather service posted on X Monday morning.

At 3 p.m., the forecast cloud cover in Buffalo and Niagara Falls is 84% – far from ideal viewing conditions for the solar eclipse.

Despite the forecast, veteran local meteorologist Don Paul, a Buffalo News contributor, on Sunday said he still had “a little bit of guarded optimism.”