Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight Over N.J., Will Weather Cooperate?

Tonight is the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower, with up to 200 "shooting stars" per hour streaking across the night skies. This year, the Perseids are poised to offer a double feature due to what NASA calls an “outburst effect.”

The best views of the meteor shower will come after 1 a.m. Friday when the moon has set, says Astronomy magazine.

But will Mother Nature get in the way of the view from your backyard? There's a chance.

Scattered thunderstorms and clouds will hover over some parts of New Jersey overnight Thursday into Friday. There's a 40 percent chance of rain at midnight in much of inland New Jersey, when the meteor shower nears its peak. According to the Weather Channel, from 2 to 5 a.m., it could be cloudy.

Parts of the shore may have clearer skies for viewing overnight. From Point Pleasant down to Ocean City, there's likely a better chance at avoiding the storms. The overnight forecast there calls for clear to partly cloudy skies.

If rain ruins the show from outside, you can catch a live broadcast of the Perseid meteor shower courtesy of NASA beginning at 10 p.m. here.

NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke says the Perseids will be in "outburst" this month, which means they'll appear at double the usual rates.

In a typical year, observers under a clear dark sky can expect to see up to 100 meteors per hour. But the planet Jupiter recently nudged the debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet closer to Earth, which could mean up to 150 meteors or more per hour overnight Thursday into Friday.

"This year, instead of seeing about 80 Perseids per hour, the rate could top 150 and even approach 200 meteors per hour," Cooke told Space.com.

The key to seeing a meteor shower is to go outside to a dark area. It takes about 30 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark, and the longer you wait outside, the more you'll see, Cooke says.

Every Perseid meteor is actually a tiny piece of debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle which disintegrate in flashes of light when they hit the Earth’s atmosphere. They’re called Perseids because they seem to originate from the constellation Perseus.