A partial lunar eclipse will be visible in North and South America, including the U.S., next Thursday night. But weather may throw clouds and rain in the way for some.

Will clouds block your view?

This eclipse will occur late Thursday night, August 27, into the early morning hours of Friday, August 28.

One good thing about summer is you typically don't have strong, large-scale storm systems spreading widespread clouds and precipitation that you see any other time of year.

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But showers and thunderstorms, or even just a blanket of clouds, could obscure the eclipse, at least for awhile.

We're still several days away from the eclipse, so it's challenging to pinpoint exactly where these showers and thunderstorms will set up.

So, for now, here's a general overview by U.S. region of what next Thursday night's weather may offer, with the help of emojis.

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Northeast

❓Most of our forecast models suggest scattered showers and thunderstorms may be in place over at least parts of the region, from the mid-Atlantic to New England.

That doesn't mean rain is expected during the entire eclipse. But these showers and any nearby clouds may be a headache to good viewing, at times.

South

❓Scattered showers and storms are possible from Virginia and the Carolinas to Florida and the lower Mississippi Valley.

🙏But they may be scattered enough to allow viewing for most in the region, especially in Oklahoma and Texas.

Midwest

👍 Much of the region could have relatively good viewing conditions.

⛈️ The one exception to this may be parts of the Central Plains, where scattered thunderstorms could rumble over parts of Nebraska and Kansas, and any clouds from these storms could waft over neighboring parts of Iowa and Missouri.

West

🔭 Except for isolated shower or thundershowers in the Rockies or Desert Southwest, and any areas of wildfires smoke, expect great viewing conditions for the eclipse.

When and where you can see it

A lunar eclipse is when the Earth passes between the moon and sun. When that happens, the Earth casts a shadow on the moon.

In this so-called partial eclipse, the Earth, moon and sun aren't perfectly aligned. That means you'll see the shadow grow over the moon, but then recede before it ever fully covers it.

This eclipse will be fully visible over much of eastern North America and South America.

In Europe and Africa, the moon will be setting during the eclipse on the morning of August 28.

In the western U.S., western Canada, Alaska and Hawaii, the moon will be rising during the eclipse on the evening of August 27.

The partial eclipse will last almost 3.5 hours and will peak around 12:13 a.m. EDT.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.