A partial lunar eclipse will be visible in North and South America, including the United States, on Thursday night. A heat dome could keep skies clearer for some.

Will clouds block your view?

This eclipse will occur late Thursday night into Friday's early-morning hours.

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.

(WATCH: Thursday's lunar eclipse will almost be a blood moon)

But showers and thunderstorms, or even just a blanket of clouds, could obscure the eclipse, at least for a while. A heat dome, likely to be anchored in the Southwest, could keep parts of the country clear.

Heat domes bring sinking and stable air, which often hinders cloud development. It is about the only good news that a heat dome can bring. But this only occurs for those near the center of the high pressure. Those near the outer rim of the heat dome could see more clouds, rain and even some storms.

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Regional forecast

Here's a general overview by U.S. region of what Thursday night's weather may offer, with the help of emojis.

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 could impede 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 Southern Plains, especially in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas.

Midwest

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

⛈️ The one exception to this may be parts of the Central and Southern 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

🔭 Expect great viewing conditions for the eclipse in the Northwest and across parts of the Four Corners.

☁️ Cloudy skies may roll into California, Nevada, Utah and Montana.

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 Friday morning.

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

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.