Are you ready for the eclipse? Whether you're bound for the path of totality or set to see a partial eclipse from Europe, Canada or the northeast U.S. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, there's a dirty word eclipse chasers hate to utter during an eclipse season, and yet become completely obsessed with — clouds.
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We all start behaving as though Earth's atmosphere owes us something. After spending years studying the climate and where it is most likely along a path of totality to have a clear sky, we're in position and can now do almost nothing about it save for drive or sail a few miles. We refresh cloud forecasts. We compare satellite imagery. We point at scraps of blue sky as if we can persuade them to remain so at a specific time. By the time the moon is almost on the sun, we've spent the best part of a week staring at our phones and fretting.
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