by Things are looking up for what will be the best meteor shower of 2023.
For those hoping to catch a glimpse of the peak of the Geminid Meteor shower overnight tonight, it looks like about half of the contiguous states (48) will have clear starry skies — a perfect backdrop for watching the best of the year’s main meteor shows.
Check out our viewing map below, where we break things down into three categories: Good, Fair and Poor.
As far as the “Good” viewing zone is concerned, a large high pressure dome centered over the Ohio River Valley should provide fair weather for much of the Midwest, extending east all the way to the Mid Coast -Atlantic, including Pennsylvania, New. Jersey, New York Metropolitan Area and much of Southern England. Generally clear skies should also prevail over much of the Northern Plains and south through the Rockies from Montana through much of Utah. Clear skies should be the rule for southern California, southern and eastern Nevada and much of Arizona.
Related: The night sky, December 2023: What you can see tonight [maps]
Gloomy viewing prospects
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Unfortunately, there will be locations that may very well be closed off from any view of the December fireworks, due to clouds and precipitation. “Poor” viewing conditions are forecast across the Far West. A Pacific disturbance moving inland over northern California will bring a thick blanket of low clouds and spotty areas of light rain and drizzle across the western half of Washington State and Oregon, as well as parts of northern California.
Additionally, a storm system over southern New Mexico will bring widespread cloud cover to much of Texas, northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, western Oklahoma, as well as much of Kansas and Nebraska. Varying amounts of “hydre meteors” (rain) are expected to fall over these areas, with snow accumulations possibly up to 4-inches for the high-terrain regions of New Mexico and Colorado.
Westerly winds blowing across Lakes Huron and Ontario could produce a blanket of cloud cover over parts of Michigan, northern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania, where snow showers could fall.
And finally, a stationary frontal zone across the Gulf of Mexico to southern Florida is expected to bring significant cloud cover to the Gulf Coast and Peninsular Florida. South Florida will also deal with scattered showers.
Elsewhere: “Looking like that”
Elsewhere across the rest of the nation, sky conditions are categorized as “fair.” For these regions, only cloudy skies are expected – or the night may start cloudy, but trend towards clearing conditions after midnight (or vice versa; increasing clouds may be result of the clear beginning of the night). Again, check our map.
Hold up!
Those in the best viewing regions should be sure to bundle up, as overnight temperatures will be in the twenties and 20s. One of the disadvantages of the Geminid Meteor Shower that is, potential viewers are subjected to lying on their backs for long periods of time in usually sub-freezing temperatures. Such a situation takes away from watching one of the brightest, most reliable and most prolific of the annual year meteor showers.
To get the latest weather forecast, tailored specifically for your hometown, check the National Weather Service website.
Here, you’ll find links to National Weather Service Forecast Offices across the United States, as well as Puerto Rico and American Samoa. Just find your region and click on the weather office closest to you; you will be able to get the latest weather outlook. (You can also watch the Geminids almost this afternoon, via Slooh Observatory webcast Online.)
Badly in 2024. . . better in 2025
To those who will miss this year’s Geminid shower due to bad weather, we would usually say: “Wait until next year.” Unfortunately, we can’t even say. In the year 2024, a Full Moon which will occur on December 15, just one day after the peak of the shower. That means the sky will be lit by moonlight all night long, hiding all but the brightest “Gems”. But it will be much better in 2025 when the Geminids coincide with a waning crescent moon.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about it astronomy for Natural History journalthe The Farmers’ Almanac and other publications.
Note to the editor: If you take a great photo of the Geminid Meteor shower that you’d like to share with Space.com and our news partners for a story or image gallery, send images and comments to spacephotos@space.com.
