On a supermoon night, clouds over Philly will eclipse the eclipse

It may be a rough week for Eagles fans, but night-sky connoisseurs haven’t had much to cheer about either.

This year’s so-called harvest moon, which rises Tuesday at 7:02 p.m. Philadelphia time, is a “supermoon,” making one of its closer approaches to Earth of the year and appearing considerably bigger and brighter than the average moon.

» READ MORE: Here are some super moon images when clouds didn't get in the way

What’s more, the Earth’s shadow will intrude upon the moon starting at 8:41 p.m., NASA says, as a partial eclipse begins. The effect will peak at 10:13 p.m., when about 8% of the moon will have disappeared. The show will end at 12:47 a.m., about two hours after the moon reaches the instant of fullness.

Unfortunately, any or all of this may be hard to see locally behind the curtains of clouds. The National Weather Service forecast calls for skies to be 75% to 90% cloud-covered from 7 p.m. until 1 a.m., with a chance of showers.

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The timing may seem almost cruel, given that clouds have been relatively scarce during what has been an exceptionally dry month.

Veils of clouds Monday night dimmed the moon when it was near fullness, stealing some of its brightness. Plus, around the time the Eagles were in the process of losing unbelievably at home to the Atlanta Falcons, the aftermath of a massive solar storm set off a northern lights show across the northern United States that never quite made it to our latitude.

Granted, historically the aurora lights appear around here about as often as the Eagles have won Super Bowls, but space weather experts say the sun is likely to stay active, and another supermoon next month is a done deal.