Eclipse forecast, 7 days to go: Looks good

The forecast for the total solar eclipse next Monday will be closely watched indeed. The massive crowds expected to descend on Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois may shift somewhere else entirely if the outlook appears dreary and cloudy.

Right now the forecast looks good with typical August heat, humidity, and clear skies on tap. But we're still far enough away that any forecast should be taken with a metric ton of salt.

In today's morning forecast discussion, the National Weather Service in Paducah offers this guidance:

Now, for the Great Eclipse forecast. While the Monday period is not yet officially in our seven-day forecast on this shift, enough data exists in the deterministic and ensemble data to suggest that the PAH forecast area will be under a building mid level ridge. This will be conducive to subsidence, meaning very little chance of pcpn [precipitation] development, and little cloudiness. This is a preliminary forecast, and is subject to change, but at this point we have reasonable confidence that it will hold.

We shall see.