The countdown is on for the total solar eclipse on April 8. The eclipse-themed cocktails have been created, the parties planned, the free glasses procured. But what happens if no one can see it?

It's a distinct possibility. Weather experts are predicting clouds and possible storms in the South that would prevent Texans from getting to witness the sharply defined "ring of fire" you see in every eclipse photo.

But even if it's stormy, there will still be visible changes, says FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen Morgan, who's flying in to Dallas to report on the event.

"Even if you don't see that disc, you'll for sure notice it getting darker," he says. "The totality part lasts four minutes, but the partial eclipse will begin 90 minutes beforehand, and will extend 90 minutes after. So you'll have a solid three hours, where you'll notice the darkness setting in, and then a gradual return to light."

It won't, however, get pitch black.

"It’s not midnight we’re talking - it's more like that time shortly after sunset where you've lost a lot of light," he says. "You'll be under the moon shadow but will also be able see the horizon, seeing everything that is not dark."

The partial eclipse will begin at 12:23 pm and end at 3:02 pm. Totality will last from about 1:40 - 1:44 pm, depending on location.

The forecast is hinting at possible severe weather with clouds and storms hitting parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana on Eclipse Day. Reports say that San Antonio and Austin could see skies half-covered by clouds, while Dallas has a 25 percent chance of rain on Monday afternoon.

The National Weather Service, which has been fastidiously updating its Facebook page, threw out a ray of hope, stating that "chances for severe weather would be Monday evening into early Tuesday, AFTER the eclipse."

"Not all hope is lost!" they said. "Widespread upper cloud cover is likely, but dense low clouds look less likely. Don't focus on the exact areas just yet, as these forecasts will change a bit each day.”

Morgan was a weather anchor at KRIV-TV in Houston when the last eclipse occurred in August 2017. He joined a group of Houstonians on a bus trip to Casper, Wyoming, where they watched it from the parking lot of their hotel.

He says the key distinction in terms of visibility in Texas will be upper clouds versus lower clouds.

"With high clouds, the sun has no trouble penetrating through," he says. "The worry would be low clouds - those puffy cumulus clouds which you cannot see through. Those will block the sun entirely."

Meteorologists are able to home in on forecasts 48 to 72 hours ahead of time, so all will be revealed this weekend. But even if they're able to resolve the "cloudy or not cloudy" dilemma, it'll still come down to what happens during those fatal four minutes that skies in Dallas are expected to go dark, and that's impossible to predict.

"I don’t want to be dramatic, but we're not going to have another eclipse like this, from one border to the other, until 2045," Morgan says. "It's a nail-biter."

NASA coverage
For those who don't have access to the eclipse from their own backyard, NASA is hosting coverage for a worldwide audience that includes livestreaming multiple events on NASA Television and YouTube starting at 12 pm CST. The three-hour broadcast will stream on NASA+, air on NASA TV, and the agency’s website. NASA will also broadcast a telescope-only feed of the eclipse on YouTube, also starting at 12 pm CST, with views of the eclipse's progression based on weather conditions in cities across the U.S. and Mexico, including Dallas, Kerrville, and Junction, Texas, plus Indianapolis, Carbondale, Illinois, Houlton, Maine, Niagara Falls, and Russellville, Arkansas. They also have an interactive Eclipse Explorer Map to track the eclipse in real time.