Philadelphians and half the U.S. population will likely miss out on the lunar eclipse Sunday night

Clouds and showers not only are poised to spoil another weekend around here, they are likely to ruin one of the year’s most anticipated astronomical events — a total lunar eclipse Sunday night into early Monday — and not only for Philadelphia.

During the 3½ hours in which Earth’s shadow will cross the moon, starting around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, clouds will eclipse the eclipse over most of the Eastern United States, said Allan Rahill, a Canadian government meteorologist who provides sky-cover forecasts for astronomers throughout North America.

For Philadelphians, seeing the eclipse would require “a pretty good road trip,” said Dave Bowers, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., “like west of Chicago; Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, they look pretty good; central west Texas.”

What’s left of last weekend’s stubborn and destructive nor’easter is going to affect the Philadelphia region Friday into Sunday.

» READ MORE: The storm took a major bite out of North Wildwood beaches

The nor’easter’s wave-inciting winds have left notable scars on the Jersey beaches. “The beaches are flat as can be with sand moved offshore into bars,” said Stewart Farrell, director of the Stockton University Coastal Research Center.

As the meandering storm sagged south, it shipwrecked houses on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

“It’s the same system,” said Bowers. “It managed to get as far out as the Western Atlantic and it stalled. Now it’s literally backing up.”

This time around its blobs of moisture and clouds will play spoiler rather than wrecker. Showers are possible Friday afternoon and night, and likely on Saturday.

Come Sunday, the insipid remnants of the storm that wouldn’t go away finally will dissipate, forecasters say, only to be replaced by another cloud-bearing, eclipse-spoiling cloud mass. Showers again are possible Sunday and Monday.

Not to rub it in, but this could be quite the spectacular celestial event. Under clear skies a full moon would backlight all those early green leaves. Then the moonlight would vanish as the Earth’s shadow covered the moon, and during totality, the lunar surface would take on a reddish tint.

That’s the result of the sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, NASA explains. The degree of redness depends on the amount of cloudiness (way too much around here) and dust in the air. Says NASA, “It’s if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the moon.”

Our next shot at seeing one of these live would be the early morning hours of Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, perhaps ideal for anxious politicians who survive the primaries and might be early risers. Totality will last from about 5:15 to 6:40 a.m., NASA says.

» READ MORE: Some day people might be getting really close up views of the moon

But keep in mind that sunrise that morning will occur at 6:37: That’s Eastern standard time, since clocks go back Nov. 6. And not even a politician would promise clear skies on an Election Day morning. On average, October is the month with the most clear days in Philadelphia, and things go downhill in November.

So this time around, you might want to tune to NASA’s version of a Zoom-with-the moon event. It will be televising the eclipse live on YouTube, starting at 11 p.m. Sunday. Totality occurs at 12:12 a.m. Monday. NASA says that visuals experts will be on hand to answer questions via live chat.

» READ MORE: We had an early-morning eclipse last November

As for dreams of watching it live and in person, said Bowers, “Locally, I would say just get a good night’s sleep.”