Puget Sound Eclipse Forecast: Long-Term Outlook Is Promising

UNIVERSITY PLACE, WA - Puget Sound isn't in the "path of totality" of next week's eclipse, but we're pretty close. Most of the region will get an almost complete eclipse - about 94 percent in the Tacoma area - with the peak happening at 10:20 a.m. But if the weather doesn't cooperate, we might not see anything at all.

Good news: the long-term forecast for Puget Sound during the eclipse is looking pretty good right now. According to University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass, two big weather-related things are shaping up nicely.

1. Wildfire smoke from fires burning in British Columbia should stay to the northeast, and winds patterns aren't supposed to change. There's no lightning in the forecast, which could spark new wildfires.
2. The current forecast calls for clouds to stay isolated over the Pacific Coast.

"We see a lot of low marine clouds over the Pacific, but they don't extend past the coastal mountains. Salem and the Willamette Valley would be in the clear, as would those in Washington State and eastern Oregon," Mass wrote about cloud-cover on Tuesday.

Here's what the National Weather Service is predicting for next Monday:

• Seattle: Sunny. Highs in the mid to upper 70s.
• Bellevue: Sunny, with a high near 79.
• Everett: Sunny, with a high near 73.
• Puyallup: Sunny, with a high near 79.
• Tacoma: Sunny, with a high near 76.
• Olympia: Mostly sunny, with a high near 79.
• Snoqualmie Pass: Sunny, with a high near 74.
• Bellingham: Mostly sunny, with a high near 73.

Image via NASA