Winter weather warnings are in place for parts of Wyoming and Montana as an early spring storm, which brought strong winds and blizzard conditions to the High Plains, moves off into the Midwest.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued alerts for counties in the northeast and central parts of Wyoming and southeastern Montana; though the low-pressure system is expected to move into Nebraska on Monday, it will still produce several inches of snow—particularly over mountain regions.
In its latest forecast for the region, the NWS said that, though wintry precipitation and high winds will taper off on Monday morning, cloud coverage was set to linger until late afternoon or early evening, making seeing the solar eclipse unlikely.
On a national picture, the meteorological agency said that cloud cover over Texas, and from Ohio to Pennsylvania, could threaten to obscure the celestial sight in parts of the path of totality that were predicted to be among the best places to experience it—with New England having the clearest skies, despite seeing the total eclipse for the shortest amount of time.
With the presence of clouds over Arkansas and Indiana—also in the path of totality—uncertain, the NWS said that "the timing, location, and height of potential cloud cover during the eclipse even in these areas may change or could work favorably and not impede viewing as much as expected."
As the wintry storm moves away from the High Plains, it is set to bring some showers to the lower Great Lakes and into the Tennessee Valley, though these should taper off throughout Monday as well.
It comes after another weather front brought significant snowfall to New England—as well as sparking tornado watches in the central eastern Midwest and blizzard conditions in the Great Lakes—last week.
In the Bighorn Mountains spanning the border between Montana and Wyoming, "near whiteout conditions" with blowing snow are expected until Monday evening. Additional snow accumulations are set to reach up to 1 foot in places, with winds gusting as high as 50 miles an hour.
The NWS said that travel along Highway 14 would likely be impossible, while power outages in the area could occur.
Wyoming's Casper Mountain is forecast to receive an additional 4 inches of snow, with winds reaching 40 miles an hour. In Converse and Niobrara counties in the west of the state, snow accumulations of up to 2 inches are anticipated, creating patches of blowing snow.
Western states faced several bouts of heavy snowfall over the winter, having been subjected to a "prolific series" of atmospheric river storms from the Pacific Ocean.
In March, a powerful winter storm brought in excess of 12 feet of snow to the Sierra Nevada range, as well as several feet of snow and blizzard conditions to higher-elevation regions of neighboring states.
Another winter storm made landfall earlier the same week before moving into the Intermountain West, bringing intense snowfall from Utah to Wyoming and Colorado.
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Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
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