Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29

Table 21 - Weather Statistics for March along the Eclipse Path

Explanation

Column 1		Station name. Spellings may vary.
Column 2		Latitude of the observation site.
Column 3		Longitude of the observation site.
Column 4		The percent of possible sunshine. Unless provided directly by the climate statistics of the country of origin, the average number of hours of sunshine per day, divided by the number of hours between sunrise and sunset at mid-month. This is the best indication of the probability of seeing the eclipse.
Columns 5-8		The percent frequency of cloud cover observations within one of five categories. Clear: no cloud observed. Scattered: any cloud amount up to four-eights of sky cover. Broken: 5 to 7 eights of sky cover. Overcast: 8 eights sky cover. Obscured: sky obscured by fog, mist, precipitation or other phenomenon. Thin cloud is not represented in the observations and so cloud cover is biased toward heavier amounts. The statistics are converted from eights to tenths of sky cover in the table.
Column 9		Probability of seeing the eclipse. A simple calculation of the probability of seeing the eclipse based on the cloud cover statistics. The formula is C+(S/100)*72+(B/100)*22.5. The formula assumes that an average of 72% of the sky is clear for observations of scattered cloud and that 22.5% is clear for observations of broken cloud. The probability is strongly affected by the presence of thin cloud which would be observed as a heavier amount.
Column 10		Mean cloud cover in tenths. Taken from published statistics where available or from the satellite observations for the location of the station.
Column 11		Percent observations with precipitation at eclipse time. Climate statistics are available at three hour intervals. This statistic and those in columns 12 to 14 are taken from the hour closest to the local time of the eclipse. Precipitation includes all types, including rain, drizzle, snow, sleet, freezing drizzle, freezing rain, tornadoes and so on.
Column 12		Percent observations with fog at eclipse time. Includes fog and ice fog. Visibility thresholds are not given but are likely for visibilities below 6 miles.
Column 13		Percent observations (at eclipse time) with smoke and haze. No thresholds for visibility are given; it probably varies from country to country.
Column 14		Percent observations with dust at eclipse time. Likely for visibilities below 6 miles.
Column 15		Tmax. Average daily maximum temperature for the month in degrees Celsius.
Column 16		Tmin. Average daily minimum temperature for the month in degrees Celsius.

---

Table adapted from "Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29" (NASA/TP-2004-212762).

Back to Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29 (NASA Web Site)