New in the app: a live Weather page for the August 12, 2026 eclipse in Spain
With few days left before the total solar eclipse crosses Spain, one question keeps coming up from everyone planning where to observe: “What will the sky actually look like from my spot, at the exact moment the Moon covers the Sun?”
That’s a genuinely hard question. Whether you get clouds is a completely different problem from whether the Sun itself will be visible and that depends on the exact direction you’re looking towards, not just “the weather where you are” (i.e. at the zenith). After spending some time collecting and looking at weather charts, we decided to make those data available in the Eclipse Countdown App. So, we built a dedicated Weather tab into the app to try to answer it as precisely as the data allows.
Where to find it
A new “Weather” tab appears in the bottom bar but only when three conditions are met: you have the August 12, 2026 total eclipse selected, your position (GPS or map) falls inside the area covered by the forecast (roughly mainland Spain and the surrounding sea/coast), and the eclipse has not occurred yet. This page is temporary and will quietly disappear from the app again, once it’s no longer useful.
Two different modes, depending on how far out you are
Weather forecasts that are actually trustworthy only exist about 5 days (120 hours) before an event. Beyond that horizon, showing you “a forecast” would be misleading, so the page is honest about it and switches behavior automatically:
- More than 120 hours out: Historical mode. You’ll see a climatology map: the statistical probability of clear sky toward the Sun at your location, based on real satellite data collected in past summers. https://www.besselianelements.com/cloud-spain-forecast-eclipse-2026/ It’s not a prediction for eclipse day specifically — it represents the following: “historically, how likely is this spot to have a clear sky at this time of year?” A badge shows you how many days remain until the real forecast window opens.
- 120 hours out or less: Forecast mode. The page switches to live model data (ICON-EU), refreshed every time a new model run completes (every 6 hours at first and then every 3h), giving you cloud layers, storm risk, and a short-term animation for your exact observing location.
The Eclipse Visibility score
At the top of the page sits a single number from 0 to 100: the Visibility Score, meant to answer the practical question in one glance: “Am I likely to actually see the eclipse from here?”
It’s not simply “cloud cover.” In forecast mode, it combines two things: how clear the line toward the Sun is expected to be, and how stable that forecast has been across recent model runs. An almost clear sky forecast with low confidence isn’t the same as an almost clear sky forecast the models have agreed upon for the last several runs. The score reflects that nuance rather than pretending certainty it doesn’t have. In historical mode, it is simply the long-term probability of clear sky at that time of year.
Three values underneath the score give you the raw ingredients behind that number: cloud cover along the line of sight, forecast confidence, and thunderstorm risk
The map: nine different ways to look at the sky
Below the score, an interactive map lets you switch between layers — each one answers a slightly different question:
Line of Sight: Combines low, mid and high clouds into a single view along line of sight of the Sun. For further details, see https://www.besselianelements.com/which-clouds-can-ruin-your-eclipse-view/
Total clouds: Overall sky cover in one number, 0-100%
Stability: How much the forecast has changed between recent model runs
Low / Mid / High clouds: Cloud cover broken down by altitude low clouds
CAPE: Energy in the atmosphere that can trigger convection and later thunderstorms. This value is taken from the forecast at 14:00 at eclipse day
Convection: A simulated satellite-style view highlighting where storms are likely to build taken from the forecast at 16:00 at eclipse day
Rain: Shower and thunderstorm precipitation through the day
Tap the description text under the layer buttons to expand a short explanation of what you’re looking at and where the data comes from — every layer names its source (ICON-EU model, or the Besselian Elements team for the composite Line of Sight index).
One detail we’re a little proud of: the map draws a red line from your position toward the Sun, at the exact altitude and azimuth the Sun will have at eclipse maximum, with three dots marking where that line of sight crosses the low, mid, and high cloud layers, as it is on our 2026 TSE Map https://www.besselianelements.com/eclipse-maps/ It’s a small thing, but it turns an abstract cloud-cover percentage into something you can actually visualize: this is the direction you need to be clear, not the sky above your head.
Exact numbers for your exact spot
Below the map, a table lists the raw values at your precise location: line of sight cloud cover, total/low/mid/high cloud cover, CAPE, convection risk, rain, each with its unit, pulled directly from the same model grid the map is drawn from.
Watch it move
A short animation shows how total cloud cover evolves over the model’s forecast window for the eclipse region, from current time until eclipse time, useful to see whether a clear patch is moving toward you or away from you, rather than just its current state.
One note
Where the data comes from
Everything is generated by the ICON-EU numerical weather model, processed on our own pipeline and refreshed automatically as new model runs become available — the header always shows which run you’re looking at and how many hours old it is.
One caveat, stated plainly
This is genuinely hard science with real uncertainty, especially more than a couple of days out. Treat the Visibility score as a planning aid to help you compare candidate locations along the eclipse path, not as a guarantee. As always, the closer we get to August 12th, the more the picture will sharpen.
Update the app to get the new Weather tab and see you in Spain!
Try Eclipse Countdown App
