A Moderate Risk of severe thunderstorms (level 4 of 5) is in the outlook across portions of the Midwest today. Damaging winds, a few tornadoes and frequent lightning with heavy rainfall are in the forecast. Meanwhile, dangerous heat across the southern Plains into the Great Lakes, mid-Atlantic and Northeast will expand into Friday. Risk for wildfires for the central Rockies and Sacramento Valley. Read More >
Overview
A total solar eclipse will occur across a large portion of our forecast area on April 8, 2024. The time of the eclipse is around 2 PM CDT. This webpage was put together to show detailed climatology for our region on this date. It includes temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, and severe thunderstorm statistics. More information about the path and duration of the eclipse can be found here through NASA.Climate Normals
The graphics below show climate information on April 8th for 6 select cities within the path of the total solar eclipse. This includes Paducah, Evansville, Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Carbondale, and Mount Vernon(IL).
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Weather on April 8th over the past 10 years
The graphics below show the weather that was observed on this day each of the past 10 years at 6 select cities within the path of the total solar eclipse.
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Cloud Cover Data
Here is cloud cover climatology for the afternoon hours on April 8th. The image on the left shows the average of all years, while the image on the right shows only El Nino Years. The current forecast suggests El Nino conditions will be present this winter and may linger into next Spring. This typically leads to a bit more cloud cover across our region in April.
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The graphics below show the observed visible satellite image at 2PM on April 8th for 8 of the past 9 years (2015-2023 except for 2018). Some clouds are present across at least portions of our region during most of these years. 2017 was the only year that was mostly clear everywhere in our forecast area.
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The tables below show the observed cloud cover data for the entire month of April over the past 10 years. There is an important caveat to remember with this data though, in that it doesn't include clouds above 12,000 feet. So the cloud cover data is skewed in a way to make it seem like it was less cloudy than it actually was.
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Severe Weather Statistics for April
Here are some detailed statistics regarding the frequency of severe thunderstorms and how often warnings are issued throughout the month of April. This data is for our entire 58 county forecast area.
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