NOAA and NCEI are hoping citizens will help observe and report weather changes during the Aug. 21 eclipse.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Centers for Environmental Information are looking for help from citizens in a massive effort to observe and record weather changes during the total solar eclipse Monday.
Greenville, Anderson and much of the Upstate are in the path of totality. That means this area is set for one of the best views of the so-called "great American total solar eclipse."
About 2:38 p.m. Monday, the sky will go dark as the moon aligns with the sun, blocking all but a lighted ring, called the corona.
The natural phenomenon occurs about every 18 months, but this one is particularly rare for the U.S., because it crosses the mainland from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, touching no other country. It's the first time in nearly a century this has occurred.
More: Interactive – How much of the eclipse will you see?
Scientists with NOAA hope to continue a 117-year-old tradition of observing and recording weather changes during an eclipse. In 1900, a group of 62 weather bureau stations took 25 sets of observations within 500 miles of the center of totality before, during and after the eclipse, according to NOAA.
Those observations included barometric pressure, temperature, vapor pressure, cloudiness, wind speed and direction. Observers noticed temperature drops of 3 to 4 degrees, wind speeds decreasing by about 1 mph, as well as increases in humidity and cloudiness.
The 2017 eclipse, with the help of technology, has the potential to gather far more data than in 1900. Anyone interested in contributing to the observations can do so by downloading the GLOBE Observer app available on smartphones. Users will be able to register as citizen scientists within the app. Instructions for providing eclipse observations will be provided inside the app.
Anyone interested in keeping a physical record of observations can download the weather observer chart provided by NOAA.