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, a common celestial experience that will no longer be so accessible to people in the United States, Canada or Mexico for decades.
The path of the total solar eclipse – the expanse where the Moon completely obscures the sun – stretches from the Pacific coast of Mexico to the edge of Atlantic Canada, passing through dozens of major cities where authorities are preparing for an influx of visitors eager to experience what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In New York, signs along the Thruway urged travelers to “Get There Early, Stay Late” to avoid the inevitable traffic jams that would clog routes to and from the eclipse’s path.
Closer to Niagara Falls, which lies in the path of totality, the second half of the message transitioned to a more realistic version, “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. On Monday, much of the country is expected to take in the view. In 2017, the majority of American adults – 154 million, according to an estimate by Jon D. Miller, a researcher at the University of Michigan – witnessed the eclipse in person, an audience far larger than that of the most watched Super Bowl (123.4 million this year). And the path of totality of Monday’s eclipse passes through more than double the number of people compared to the 2017 event.
Many eclipse watchers are anxiously checking the forecast, hoping the clouds will clear by Monday afternoon. That of the National Meteorological Service eclipse prediction shows potential cloud cover over much of the event’s path, including San Antonio, Buffalo and other major cities. In some places, rain may fall during totality.
Cities have closed schools across the country, and millions of protective eyewear are being distributed or sold. Scientists have warned people to never look directly at the sun without protective glasses because serious retinal damage can occur.
Numerous special events are planned across North America, from street parties in Mexico to animal studies at the Indianapolis Zoo to a special eclipse spectacle at Niagara Falls.
In Mazatlán, the Mexican coastal city that will be one of the first places people can see the eclipse from earth, hotels are booked to capacity, cruise ships are offering special eclipse experiences and the waterfront is bustling with tourists.
Authorities said they expect about 120,000 people to visit Mazatlán for the event. The few hotel rooms available went for regular triple or quadruple rates.
“This is where the eclipse hits the Earth,” said Greg Schmidt, director of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, who arrived in Mazatlán several days ago with a team that will livestream the eclipse from the city.
Mr. Schmidt chose Mazatlán about two years ago as the location for his team to follow 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 everything through this,” he said, contrasting Mazatlán with Texas, which “is now showing a lot of problems weather-wise.”
In Dallas, more than a thousand miles away, many people were already resigned to not being able to see the eclipse, and some were talking about venturing out to see the next one in Iceland or Spain in 2026.
Eric Isaacs, president of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., who was hosting a three-day science and sightseeing bash in Dallas for donors and friends of the institution, said the group’s viewing site it had already been moved to a villa where people could gather inside if they needed shelter from the rain.
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 ramp up security and police resources if necessary.
The emergency declaration added to the mild sense of panic that has gripped Niagara Falls and several major cities within a two-hour drive of the city, including Hamilton and Toronto.
Back at the U.S.-Canada border 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 an eclipse of about 90% around 3:25 pm Eastern.
Ms. DeCerce has been dubbed the state’s “eclipse czar” and has spent the last two years thinking about everything that could go wrong: gridlocked traffic, lack of bathrooms, unstable cell service.
She wouldn’t name a spot she thought would be best for viewing the eclipse, but said it would be hard to beat Niagara Falls.
“Can you imagine a better place to observe it all 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.
Elliott Cohen, 33, who traveled to Niagara Falls with members of his rock band from Hartford, Connecticut. —because “there’s nothing more spiritual than experiencing an eclipse”—he said he and his group were weighing whether to view the event from a friend’s backyard or the state park.
“We like to do things on a whim,” he said.
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 absolutely can’t let the lights go on and ruin the atmosphere,” said Emily Garrett, a zoo official.
Alicia Bonanno, an operations coordinator in charge of several parts of the zoo, including the macaw area, said she was looking forward to finding out how the macaws would react to the eclipse.
“The air pressure disturbance might make them fly around because they feel like a storm is coming,” 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 tuck themselves in for the night. We’ll just have to see.”
Reporting contribution was provided by Vjosa Isai from Toronto, Juliet Macur from Indianapolis, Dennis Hi from Dallas, Simone Romero from Mazatlán, Mexico, e Jay Root from Niagara, New York
