Total Lunar Eclipse 2015 Cloud Cover: Clear for Central and Western US

Summary: Viewing of September 2015's total lunar eclipse should be easy and enjoyable across much of the continental United States.

Sky Cover (%) for Sunday, Sep. 27, 2015, 11:00 p.m. EDT: National Digital Forecast Database, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Clear skies dominate the forecast for Sunday night, Sept. 27, for two-thirds of the Lower 48, from the Pacific coast eastward to the Mississippi River. The mighty Mississippi marks borders in its 2,350 mile (3,781.96 kilometer) journey southward to the Gulf of Mexico, between 10 Midwestern states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi).

No precipitation and temperatures predominantly ranging from 60 degrees to 80 degrees-plus Fahrenheit (15.55 degrees to 26.66 degrees-plus Celsius) make for pleasant viewing conditions for 20 of the 22 states lying west of or along the western banks of the Mississippi River. Only viewers in Louisiana, with statewide cloudiness, and Minnesota, with northeastern to central eastern cloudiness, may have to contend with obscurity of the total lunar eclipse by cloud covered skies.

Of the tier of 26 states located between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean, only the three northern New England states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont have forecasts of clear skies and no precipitation. Temperatures may be brisk, though, with possible dipping below 60 degrees F (15.55 degrees C).

Low percentages of cloud cover, with slightly higher percentages possible near New York borders, and no precipitation should account for good visibility of the total lunar eclipse in the three lower New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Night temperatures in the 60s also are conducive to enjoyable viewing.

The cluster of 20 states from western New York westward to Michigan and Illinois and southward to the Gulf Coast states, plus the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., have obscuring forecasts of total lunar eclipse 2015 cloud cover. Sky cover percentages hover in the upper ranges, from 70 to 100 percent. Temperatures are expected to range in the 60s to 80s F (15 to 26 degrees-plus C), but precipitation forecasts are in effect from New York and Mid-Atlantic states southward to the Gulf coast.

Total lunar eclipse 2015 is a not-to-miss event because the moon, at its closest orbital point to the Earth for this year, appears larger than usual. The last total lunar eclipse featuring a supermoon, or super-sized full moon, occurred over three decades ago on Dec. 30, 1982. After Sunday, 18 years will elapse before the appearance of the next supermoon total lunar eclipse on Oct. 8, 2033.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has the event covered with live stream from 8 p.m. to at least 11:30 p.m.

Live feed from Marshall Space Flight Center on Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville in north central Alabama is scheduled to include cross-country views of the total lunar eclipse from such stellar facilities as Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, Atlanta’s Fernbank Observatory and Los Angeles’ Griffith Observatory.

total lunar eclipse 2015 viewing information:
NASA TV url: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc
total lunar eclipse 2015 times
begins: 7:12 p.m. PDT; 10:12 p.m. EDT; 02:12 UTC
ends: 8:23 p.m. PDT; 11:23 p.m. EDT; 03:23 UTC
partial eclipse framing total eclipse
begins: 6:08 p.m. PDT; 9:08 p.m. EDT; 01:08 UTC
ends: 9:27 p.m. PDT; 12:27 a.m. EDT; 04:27 UTC

orientation of Earth as viewed from the moon's center during greatest eclipse: SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Sky Cover (%) for Sunday, Sep. 27, 2015, 11:00 p.m. EDT: National Digital Forecast Database, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) @ https://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/sectorDay.php?view=public§or=conus&element=Sky; (former URL @ http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/conus.php?element=Skybr/)

orientation of Earth as viewed from the moon's center during greatest eclipse: SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_eclipse_from_moon-2015Sep28.png

For further information:

"NASA TV to Provide Live Feed of Sunday's Supermoon Eclipse." NASA > Solar System > Watch the Skies. Sept. 22, 2015.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/watchtheskies/live-feed-of-sundays-supermoon-eclipse.html

National Digital Forecast Database. "Sky Cover (%) for Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, 11 p.m. EDT." National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service > Graphical Forecasts > CONUS Area. Sept. 27, 2015.
Available @ http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/conus.php?element=Sky