NEW YORK.- In NYsigns along the Thruway urge travelers to “arrive early and stay late” this Monday to avoid inevitable traffic jams. Closer to the Niagara Falls the message is more realistic: “We expect delays” on access roads. The same warnings are repeated on all routes of the main observation areas of the trajectory of the eclipse solar total that will be observed this Monday in North America, a rare celestial phenomenon that It will not be repeated in that part of the world until 2044.
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 periphery of Atlantic Canada, passing through dozens of major cities where authorities are preparing for an influx of visitors. eager to experience what for many could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
This Monday the total solar eclipse will cross North America from Mazatlán, Mexico, to the coast of Newfoundland near Gander, Canada. Viewers outside the path of the total eclipse will see a partial eclipse if the sky is clear.
It will be the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States since 2017, and there won’t be another one visible in the lower 48 states until 2044. Much of the country is expected to enjoy the view on Monday. In 2017, most American adults saw the eclipse in person, according to an estimate by Jon D. Miller, a research scientist at the University of Michigan. The number of observers, 154 million, is much higher than the audience of even the most watched Super Bowl (123.4 million this year). And the path of totality for Monday’s eclipse passes through more than twice as many people as the 2017 event.
Many eclipse watchers are anxiously checking the weather forecast for Monday. Forecasters with the National Weather Service said Sunday morning that almost everywhere in the United States there is a chance that clouds will hinder the visibility of the phenomenon.
Forecasters said that, starting in the southern United States, there was a high chance of clouds in the center of Texas and they even had growing concern about severe storms across much of the state. The forecast is more promising for Little Rock, Arkansasand the prospects for Cleveland They were improving. But from there to Buffalo, New Yorkthe outlook is uncertain, and the outlook may not become clear until hours before the eclipse.
One exception is Mainewhere the forecast says there will be “a nearly perfect day” to view the eclipse.
Cities across the country have canceled classes and millions of protective glasses are being distributed or sold. Scientists warned that you should never go directly into the sun without protective glasses because serious retinal damage can occur.
Across North America there are a host of special events planned, including street parties in Mexico, an animal study at an Indianapolis zoo and an eclipse exhibit at Niagara Falls.
The eclipse in Mexico
In Mazatlanthe Mexican coastal city that will be one of the first places where people will be able to see the eclipse from land, Hotels are full, cruise ships offer special eclipse experiences, and the boardwalk is packed with tourists.
Authorities said they expected about 120,000 people to visit Mazatlán for the event. The few hotel rooms available had regular triple or quadruple rates.
“This is where the eclipse makes landfall”said Greg Schmidt, director of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Virtual Research Institute, who arrived in Mazatlán several days ago with a team that will broadcast the eclipse live from the city.
Schmidt selected Mazatlán about two years ago as his team’s site to track the eclipse. He seemed optimistic about the choice compared to other locations along the eclipse path.
“We should at least be able to see the totality of the eclipse,” he said, contrasting Mazatlán with Texas, which “is now showing a lot of problems weather-wise.”
In Dallas, more than a thousand kilometers from Mazatlán, many people were already resigned to not being able to see the eclipse, and some were talking about venturing to see the next one in Iceland or Spain in 2026.
Eric Isaacs, president of the Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington, D.C., who was hosting a three-day science and tourism bash in Dallas for donors and friends of the institution, said The group’s viewing location had already been moved to a mansion, where people could gather inside if they needed shelter from the rain.
In BuffaloMartin Penkala, 60, an assistant at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center and amateur astronomer, didn’t let a gloomy weather forecast interfere with his enthusiasm.
“In any case, we will observe total darkness for three minutes”he said at an eclipse-inspired concert at the Buffalo Philharmonic on Saturday night. “That will be great!”
Closer to the end of the eclipse path, the Canadian region of Niagara declared the state of emergency 10 days before the event, allowing officials to expedite police and security resources if necessary.
The emergency declaration added to the mild sense of panic that has gripped Niagara Falls and several large cities within a two-hour drive, including Hamilton and Toronto in Ontario.
In New York state, Jessica DeCerce, the governor’s director of interagency operations, said that Officials were preparing for the eclipse as they would for a climate catastrophe. The total eclipse will be visible across a wide swath of the state. New York City itself is out of the path of the total eclipse, but will experience a roughly 90% eclipse around 3:25 p.m. Eastern Time.
DeCerce has been dubbed the state’s “eclipse czar” and spent the past two years thinking about everything that could go wrong: traffic jams, lack of bathrooms, unstable cell phone service. The expert preferred not to name a particular place as the best to see the eclipse, but said it would be difficult to beat Niagara Falls.
“Can you imagine a better place to see this than in front of one of the natural wonders of the world?” said.
Some experts even said that The rainbow that usually forms in the mist of the falls will turn pink during the eclipse.
In Indianapoliswhich is on the path where the eclipse will be total, city zoo officials plan to distribute up to 10,000 pairs of eclipse glasses for visitors and they have made sure that the zoo’s automatic lights do not turn on when the sky darkens.
“We cannot allow the lights to come on and ruin the atmosphere,” said Emily Garrett, zoo spokesperson.
Alicia Bonanno, operations coordinator in charge of various parts of the zoo, including the macaw area, said she couldn’t wait to find out how the macaws would react to the eclipse.
“The alteration in air pressure could make them fly because they feel that there is 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 could be different. They could just lay down for the night. We will have to see,” she concluded.
Por Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs