It’s the peak weekend for the annual Perseid meteor shower, but cloud cover over much of the midstate will mean lackluster viewing conditions.

Under clear, dark skies, about 60 “shooting stars” would be viewable per hour when viewing peaks late Saturday night, according to astronomy.com. For the Macon area, however, 10 to 20 per hour is probably the expectation, said Jim Greenhouse, science curator at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon.

“It’s not an extraordinary year for it anyway,” he said.

The current weather system that’s gripped Middle Georgia won’t help backyard sky gazers.

“I’m not sure it’s going to be visible,” said Matt Marone, a professor at Mercer University who teaches physics and astronomy. “I don’t think it’s a great time to be observing it.”

There may be a window of clearer skies early Saturday morning and late Saturday night, according to cleardarksky.com.

And even with storms that may roll through the region this weekend, there could be viewing windows from about 1 a.m. till just before sunrise, astronomer Phillip Groce said. The shooting stars should be visible until Monday.

The moon is at a waning crescent phase, which will help.

But for the best chance of getting a meteor show, “get out in the country as far as you can,” away from city lights, Greenhouse said.

The Perseids start as specks of dust that hit Earth’s atmosphere at about 37 miles per second, vaporizing from friction with the air and leaving behind streaks of light.