Millions of people gathered in 15 states and in Mexico and Canada on Monday in anticipation of this afternoon’s total solar eclipse which is expected to deliver a dazzling celestial show.
Undeterred by gloomy forecasts of low cloud cover and rain spoiling their view, hordes gathered across the US from Texas to Maine, clutching goggles and cameras with sun filters, in readiness for the rare spectacle.
More than 31 million people live in the “path of totality” — the path of the moon’s shadow that blocks the sun — which will follow the eclipse in a northeasterly direction for about an hour after it passes in Texas at 1:30 p.m. CT crossed over
And officials say they expect another 4 to 5 million to travel in, bringing an estimated $1.5bn tourism boost of what will be the country’s biggest travel day of the year.
It will be another 21 years before the US sees the next coast-to-coast total eclipse, adding to the widespread eagerness to witness the moments of darkness and silence during today’s event. But for many, the experience has proven expensive, with rising airfares and exorbitant hotel rates. Others found that long-held reservations were canceled and resold to new customers at up to three times the original cost.
Travelers were up early Monday to look for a good spot to watch the eclipse below the 115-mile-wide path of totality. In Maine, where clear skies are expected to provide some of the best views, authorities reported heavy traffic well before daylight.
“We really didn’t even dare to hope that we were going to have weather like this, and the sky is blue and the crowds are actually starting to form and it’s only a quarter to six in the morning. It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever seen,” Jane Torres, executive director of the Houlton Chamber of Commerce, told CNN’s This Morning.
Sarah Laneau, of Westfield, Vermont, woke up at 4 a.m. to take her 16-year-old daughter on a ski tram to the top of a mountain at nearby Jay Peak Resort to view the eclipse at a height seen from 3,968 feet. “It will be a first for me and an experience of a lifetime,” Laneau, 57, said.
Forecasters had gloomier news for many other parts of the country, although forecast conditions are generally trending better in recent days. Clouds are still expected over much of the eclipse path, with severe weather including thunderstorms and hail for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana later in the day.
“Northern New England remains the region where cloud cover is likely to be minimized along the path of totality this afternoon,” the National Weather Service said in a Monday morning bulletin.
“Other locations will have a fair chance for varying levels of cloud cover, although locations across Arkansas into the Midwest may see breaks in the clouds or high thin clouds during the time of totality.”
NASA will livestream the eclipse for those who can’t see the show, or live outside the path of totality. Almost all of North America will experience a partial eclipse of varying percentage depending on proximity to its center, and the agency offers its eclipse explorer website for people to see what they will see from their location.
Such is the interest in the eclipse that numerous states and municipalities have declared states of emergency in anticipation of massive crowds.
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Many cities along the way are hosting public viewing events and giving away eclipse safety glasses. At several zoos, researchers join citizen observers watch animals behave. During previous eclipses, giraffes ran wild, turtles began to rustle, and gibbons sang and barked.
Science experiments will also be conducted. NASA will fire rockets into the moon’s shadow to study how the Earth’s upper atmosphere is affected by the brief eclipse of sunlight, and volunteers will capture images of the solar corona during the total eclipse, or help analyze them in its aftermath to unravel its effects and mysteries.
The most recent total solar eclipse in the US was in 2017, but an interval of only seven years is unusual. This one has a longer track, and has a wider shadow of totality than seven years ago because the moon is closer to Earth.
The time of totality in any given location is also longer. In 2017, the longest duration anywhere was two minutes and 42 seconds. Today it will be four minutes and 28 seconds in Torreón, Mexicowhile almost every place along the path can expect between three and a half to four minutes of totality.
“The 2017 eclipse cut across the country in kind of the opposite direction, and it created a lot of interest, millions flocked to it and whetted the appetite of a lot of people,” said John Gianforte, professor of space science at the University of New Hampshire , and director of his observatory.
“There have been a lot of improvements in imaging technology, imaging sensors, that make the image of a total solar eclipse much more accessible, and things like that just make people even more interested in studying things in space.”
Associated Press contributed to this report
