Cullman might’ve been too far east to attract the region-wide surge of impromptu tourists on the sightseeing trail for Monday’s total solar eclipse, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered: Despite lying a half-day’s drive away from the narrow 115-mile path of totality (where viewers could witness the moon fully obstructing the sun), north Alabama’s partial eclipse was mostly obscured by a persistent cover of clouds.
Cloudy conditions, in fact, predominated across much of the Southeast on Monday, when visitors thronged to cities directly in the eclipse’s path only to spy the phenomenon through similarly hazy cloud cover. Arkansas and northeast New England were the best bets in the U.S., going into Monday’s spectacle. New Brunswick and Newfoundland in Canada also looked promising.
Even in partial eclipse, the area experienced a rare daytime darkening that isn’t expected to be duplicated again — at least in these parts — until 2045, when a total solar eclipse is expected to be visible across a heartland swath of the United States. and if the local clouds that frustrated Monday’s direct viewing of the partial eclipse portended anything, it’s likely just the arrival of some typically seasonal stormy weather later this week.
Beginning Tuesday and extending throughout the week, overcast skies and periods of rain are expected to intensify as a wet weather pattern takes hold until Friday. Though forecasts call for isolated thunderstorms that aren’t expected to be severe today, the Huntsville office of the National Weather Service cautions that storms arriving late Wednesday and on Thursday could dump enough precipitation to cause potential flooding problems.
Noting that northwest Alabama should see the highest rainfall this week, NWS advises that grand totals ranging from 3’’ to 5’’ of rain could fall across the area this week. “This amount of rain,” the service stated Monday, “will result in saturated soils, with runoff producing areal flooding. A few instances of flash flooding cannot be ruled out. The runoff will go into area creeks, streams, and rivers, resulting in higher than normal water levels. Some of our extended guidance has a number of rivers going well into flood stage later this week.”
Though a sustained outbreak of dangerous storms isn’t part of this week’s forecast, NWS is urging Tennessee Valley residents to remain up to date with the latest forecast updates until breezier conditions bring drier weather (and sunnier skies) into the area on Friday. Find the weather service’s most current information online at www.weather.gov/hun/, and stay aware of current alerts through local media and by following the Cullman County Emergency Management Agency on Facebook.