Millions of people will tilt their heads skyward on Monday, admiring a total solar eclipse. The moon will cross the sun and block its light for a few fleeting moments, a shared celestial experience that won’t be as accessible to people in the United States, Canada or Mexico again for decades.
The total solar eclipse path – the stretch where the moon completely hides the sun – stretches from the Pacific coast of Mexico to the fringes of Atlantic Canada, passing through dozens of major cities where authorities are preparing for an influx of visitors who want to experience it which may be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
In New York, signs along the Thruway urged travelers to “Arrive Early, Stay Late” to avoid the inevitable traffic jams that will clog routes to and from the eclipse path.
Closer to Niagara Falls, which is in the path of totality, the second half of the message changed to a more realistic, “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 see the spectacle. In 2017, a majority of American adults — 154 million, according to an estimate by Jon D. Miller, a research scientist at the University of Michigan — watched the eclipse in person, an audience far beyond that of even the more popular Super Bowl (123 .4 million this year). And the path of totality for Monday’s eclipse is crossed by more than twice as many people as the 2017 event.
Many eclipse watchers are anxiously checking the forecast, hoping the clouds will part by Monday afternoon. The National Weather Service’s eclipse forecast shows possible cloud cover over much of the event’s path, including San Antonio, Buffalo and other major cities. In some places, rain may fall during the set.
Cities across the country have canceled schools and millions of goggles are being distributed or sold. Scientists have warned people never to look directly at the sun without protective glasses because serious retinal injuries can occur.
Across North America, a variety of special events are planned, from street parties in Mexico to animal studies at a zoo in Indianapolis to a special eclipse exhibit in Niagara Falls.
In Mazatlán, the coastal Mexican city that will be one of the first places people will be able to see the eclipse from land, hotels are at capacity, cruise ships are offering 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 were triple or quadruple regular rates.
“This is where the eclipse lands,” said Greg Schmidt, the director of NASA’s Virtual Institute for Solar System Exploration Research, who arrived in Mazatlan several days ago with a team that will broadcast the eclipse live from the city.
Mr. Schmidt chose Mazatlán about two years ago as his team’s location to watch the eclipse. He sounded upbeat about the pick compared to other places along the eclipse path. The weather forecast was favorable for high clouds.
“We should at least be able to see the totality through it,” he said, contrasting Mazatlán with Texas, which is “showing a lot of weather issues right now.”
In Dallas, more than a thousand miles away, many people had already given up on not being able to see the eclipse, and some spoke of daring to see the next one in Iceland or Spain in 2026.
Eric Isaacs, president of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., which hosted a three-day celebration of science and tours in Dallas for donors and friends of the foundation, said the group’s display site had already moved to a mansion. where people could gather inside if they needed to get out of the rain.
Closer to the end of the eclipse path, Canada’s Niagara Region declared a state of emergency 10 days before the event, allowing officials to rush security and police resources if needed.
The emergency declaration added to the mild sense of panic that has settled in Niagara Falls and several major cities within a two-hour drive of the city, including Hamilton and Toronto.
Across the US-Canada border in New York State, Jessica DeCerce, the governor’s director of interagency operations, said officials were preparing for the eclipse as they would for a weather disaster. The total eclipse will be visible over much of the state. New York City is outside the path of totality, but will experience about a 90 percent eclipse around 3:25 p.m. east.
Ms. DeCerce is nicknamed the state’s “blackout czar,” and for the past two years she’s been thinking about everything that could go wrong: traffic gridlock, lack of bathrooms, shaky cell phone service.
He wouldn’t name a spot he thought would be best to view the eclipse, but said it would be hard to beat Niagara Falls.
“Can you imagine a better place to watch it than in front of one of the natural wonders of the world?” he 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 drove to Niagara Falls with members of his rock band from Hartford, Conn. — because “there’s nothing more spiritual than experiencing an eclipse” — said he and his team wondered if they will view the event from a friend’s backyard or 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 hand out up to 10,000 pairs of eclipse glasses to visitors and have ensured that the zoo’s automatic lights will not turn on when the sky darkens.
“We absolutely cannot turn on the lights and ruin the atmosphere,” said Emily Garrett, a zoo spokeswoman.
Alicia Bonanno, operations coordinator responsible for many parts of the zoo, including the macaw area, said she was looking forward to learning how the macaws would react to the eclipse.
“The atmospheric pressure disturbance can make them fly around because they feel like there’s going to be a storm,” she said, as the birds shivered in the enclosure in front of her. “But what they actually do during the set may be different. They could just lay down for the night. It remains to be seen.”
The report was made by Vjosa Isai from toronto, Juliet Macur from Indianapolis, Dennis Overbye from dallas, Simon Romero from Mazatlán, Mexico and Jay Root from Niagara, New York
