Grab your solar glasses: Sun to shine brightly (most of) Monday afternoon

Partial eclipse in Philly area should be visible, says meteorologist

Grab your solar eclipse glasses: sunny skies are predicted in the Philadelphia region for Monday afternoon's partial solar eclipse.

"There are no issues," said Mitchell Gaines, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.


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Forecasters earlier in the week had worried about cloud cover to the south creeping northward, but that's no longer a concern.

Temps should be in the mid-80s Monday afternoon as a partial eclipse shadows about 75 percent of the sun in the sky above the city.

Monday's eclipse will cut a 70-mile-wide path of totality across the country from west to east as the moon moves between Earth and the sun, blocking it for as long as 2½ minutes.

It's the first coast-to-coast full eclipse since 1918.

The nearest location to Philadelphia to see a total eclipse is theoretically South Carolina, but scattered thunderstorms and lots of cloud cover are likely to obscure the sun there.

The partial eclipse here begins at 1:21 p.m., hits maximum shadow coverage at 2:44 p.m., and ends at 4:01 p.m. 

Viewing the eclipse without using solar glasses can cause vision damage, experts warn.