What To Know About The Geminids Meteor Shower

S​targazers across the U.S. were set to be in for a treat from the Geminids meteor shower Thursday night - maybe.

"There's a large swath in the middle of the country that will have cloud cover as well as most of Florida, Washington, parts of California, Montana, Nevada and northern Maine," weather.com meteorologist Briana Waxman said Thursday morning.

I​f you're lucky enough to have clear skies, this is one meteor shower to try and catch.

"The Geminids are friendly and they're the most reliable shower in terms of number of meteors that you can see from your location," John Gianforte, director of the University of New Hampshire Observatory, told weather.com in an interview Saturday.

S​ince the peak of the meteor shower is actually during the day Thursday, the nights before and after are the best times to watch.

Anywhere from a few dozens to hundreds of meteors are potentially visible during this particular meteor shower. While you'll have a better chance of spotting more after midnight, you don't have to stay up that late.

"You'll see this is a nice shower because the place in the sky where the meteors originate from is a bright star that rises pretty early at this point in December," Gianforte said.

"If you have kids ... you can have them start watching it at 8 or 9 o'clock and you'll see some."

Another reason the Geminids are easy to spot is because their chemical makeup can give them a greenish tint as they race across the sky.

"Just get comfortable, cover yourself up with a blanket on a nice comfortable chair or a sleeping bag and just be patient and you'll see them," Gianforte said.

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Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.

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