Anticipation and anxiety before the total solar eclipse

Millions of people will tilt their heads skyward on Monday, marveling at a total solar eclipse.

The moon will cross the sun and block its light for a few fleeting moments, creating a communal celestial experience that won’t be as accessible to people in the United States, Canada or Mexico for decades.

The path of the total solar eclipse – the stretch where the Moon completely obscures the Sun – stretches from the Pacific coast of Mexico to the edge of Atlantic Canada, passing dozens of major cities where authorities are preparing for an influx of visitors. experience what could be a once-in-a-lifetime or once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

In New York, signs along the Thruway urge travelers to “arrive early and stay late” to avoid the inevitable traffic jams that will clog routes to and from key viewing areas along the eclipse’s path.

Closer to Niagara Fallsthat are on the path to totality, the second half of the message has changed to a more realistic “We expect delays.”

It will be the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States since 2017, and there won’t be another visible in the lower 48 states until 2044.

Much of the country is expected to be able to enjoy the views on Monday.

In 2017, most American adults saw the eclipse in person, according to an estimate by Jon D. Miller, a researcher at the University of Michigan.

The figure, 154 million, goes far beyond even the public superbowl most viewed (123.4 million this year).

And it passes the path of totality of Monday’s eclipse more than double of people compared to the 2017 event.

Many eclipse watchers are anxiously checking the weather forecast for Monday.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service said Sunday morning that nearly everyone along the road in the United States will have at least some chance of clouds obscuring their vision.

Forecasters said there is a high chance of clouds in Central Texas and they have growing concerns about severe storms across much of the state.

They saw reason for optimism in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the outlook for Cleveland was improving.

But from there to Buffalo, New York, there’s still a lot that’s uncertain, and the picture may not become clearer until a few hours before the eclipse.

One exception was Maine, where the agency’s meteorologist said people in the state had “got it an almost perfect day” to see the eclipse.

Cities across the country have canceled classes, and millions of protective glasses are being distributed or sold.

Scientists have warned people to never look directly at the sun without protective glasses because sunburn can result. serious injuries in the retina.

A number of special events are planned across North America, including street parties in Mexico, an animal study at the Indianapolis Zoo and an eclipse exhibit in Niagara Falls.

In Mazatlán, the Mexican coastal city that will be one of the first places people can watch the eclipse from land, hotels are packed, cruise ships offer special eclipse experiences and the waterfront is packed with tourists.

Officials said they expected some 120,000 people They will visit Mazatlán for the event.

The few hotel rooms available had normal rates triple or quadruple.

“This is where the eclipse occurred hits the ground” said Greg Schmidt, director of NASA’s Virtual Solar System Exploration Research Institute, who arrived in Mazatlán several days ago with a team that will live stream the eclipse from the city.

Schmidt chose Mazatlán about two years ago as his team’s site to monitor the eclipse.

He seemed optimistic about the choice over other locations along the eclipse path;

The weather forecast was favorable for high cirrus clouds.

“We should at least be able to see the totality through this,” he said, contrasting Mazatlán with Texas, which “is now showing a lot of problems from a climate perspective.”

In Dallas, more than 1,600 miles from Mazatlán, many people were already resigned to not being able to see the eclipse, and some were talking about venturing out to see the next eclipse. Iceland or Spain in 2026.

Eric Isaacs, president of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., which was hosting a three-day science and tourism festival in Dallas for donors and friends of the institution, said the group’s observing site had already moved to a villa where people could gather inside if they needed shelter from the rain.

In Buffalo, Martin Penkala, 60, an assistant at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center and an amateur astronomer, didn’t let the gloomy weather forecast interfere with his enthusiasm.

“We’ll still see total darkness for three minutes,” he said Saturday night during an eclipse-inspired concert at the Buffalo Philharmonic.} “It’s going to be amazing!”

Panic

Near the end of the eclipse’s path, Canada’s Niagara Region declared a state of emergency 10 days before the event, allowing officials to increase police and security resources if necessary.

The emergency declaration added to the offense feeling of panic which conquered Niagara Falls and several major cities within a two-hour drive, including Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario.

In New York state, Jessica DeCerce, the governor’s director of interagency operations, said officials are preparing for the eclipse as they would for a weather catastrophe.

The total eclipse will be visible across a wide swath of the state.

New York City is out of the path of totality, but will experience a roughly 90% eclipse around 3:25 p.m. Eastern time.

DeCerce was nicknamed the “eclipse czar” from the state and has spent the last two years thinking about everything that could go wrong:

traffic jams, lack of bathrooms, unstable cell service.

He wouldn’t name a place he thought would be best for viewing the eclipse, but said it would be difficult to go higher than Niagara Falls.

“Can you imagine a better place to see it than in front of one of the natural wonders of the world?” she said.

Some experts have said that the rainbow that usually forms in the mist of the falls will turn pink during the eclipse.

While Monday may be the first and only time some people see an eclipse, others, like Marian Garrigan, who traveled south to Carbondale, Illinois, from Chicago, were excited for a second chance.

He last visited the city in 2017 to see its first total solar eclipse, which he described as “fantastic.”

“And I don’t always say that word,” he added.

Carbondale is home to Southern Illinois University, where Garrigan attended college in the 1970s.

During the 2017 eclipse, he reunited with two of his college roommates.

“The eclipse gave us the perfect excuse to be here,” he said.

The three even stayed in an old bedroom, which still looked the same, Garrigan said.

To celebrate their 70th birthday, they will gather again for this eclipse.

A second eclipse was also on the mind of another 70-year-old woman, Gladis Mejía Roa, on Isla María Madre, an island off the coast of Mexico.

He recalled observing the eclipse that passed through Mexico in 1991:

the dogs bark, the birds scurry back into the trees.

Doing it a second time, Mejía Roa said outside the island’s church, “is lucky for me.”

It’s probably your last chance.

Mexico won’t witness another total solar eclipse until 2052.

“And you know what? I don’t think I want to see it,” he added, laughing.

Preparations

In Indianapolis, which is in the path of totality, city zoo officials plan to distribute up to 10,000 pairs of eclipse glasses to visitors and have ensured that the zoo’s automatic lights do not turn on when the sky darkens.

“We can’t let the lights go on and ruin the atmosphere,” said Emily Garrett, a zoo spokeswoman.

Alicia Bonanno, an operations coordinator in charge of various parts of the zoo, including the macaw area, said she was looking forward to seeing how the macaws would react to the eclipse.

“Altering the air pressure might make them fly away because they sense there’s going to be a storm,” she said, as the birds squawked in the enclosure in front of her.

“But what they actually do during totality may be different. They could just lie down for the night. We’ll have to see.”

c.2024 The New York Times Company