As people throughout North America ramp up their excitement for the first eclipse to cover the entire continent in 99 years, many in Iowa may be out of luck when it comes to actually seeing it.

Meteorologist Kurt Kotenberg with the National Weather Service says viewing the phenomenon will be tricky, as mostly cloudy skies are likely and even showers and thunderstorms are possible during peak viewing hours Monday.

“There’s still some time to where the forecast could tweak a little bit, but I would say at least in central Iowa, and I would say cloud chances will increase the further east that you go, so from Central to Eastern Iowa is that there will be more clouds than blue sky out there,” he says.

Kotenberg says the eclipse viewing in Iowa will start in the late morning and continue through the mid-afternoon hours. According to NASA, the peak obstruction of the eclipse will be between 93 and 95 percent in Marion County, and will take place between 1:09 and 1:11 p.m.

Residents are reminded to never look at the sun directly, and to use specialized glasses to view the eclipse.