In three months, a stripe across North America will go dark for a few minutes. Lucky onlookers—the 40 million that happen to live within the path of the moon’s shadow, and the millions that will travel into it—will see the famous “hole in the sky,” the eclipsed sun’s corona, with naked eyes for a few minutes.
“A total solar eclipse is an experience—and you don’t know what your story will be yet,” said Dan McGlaun, an eclipse expert at Eclipse 2024, which has an interactive map and eclipse simulator that simulates precisely what will be seen from thousands of communities in North America. “Your story will write itself on eclipse day, but it will be unique and personal to you—it’s a metaphor for life.”
That’s precisely why prospective eclipse-chasers need to make a plan, and soon. Up to 50 million—and certainly 32 million— people in the U.S. will experience totality on April 8. Experts predict that it will be like 50 Super Bowls happening at the same time, with associated traffic snarls and potential chaos. You can swerve all that if you make a plan—and maybe a plan B and C, too.
Best Places To See The Eclipse
McGlaun is the ultimate eclipse evangelist, giving hundreds of talks already to communities that need to plan for an influx of eclipse-chasers from across the country—and the world. From Texas to Maine—and the 13 U.S states in between—McGlaun knows who will and will not experience totality and for how long. However, like millions of Americans, he has zero decisions on April 8. “I haven’t decided where I’ll watch the eclipse yet—the front yard or backyard,” he said about his home in Indiana. “It’s meaningful, special, and purposeful for me to experience totality at home.”
Ask any intrepid eclipse-chaser what their dream location would be to witness a total solar eclipse, and they will all have the same answer: home. For most, it’s centuries away from happening. For many Americans, it’s now just days until they experience the weird effects of totality from their own properties—and they absolutely should not move one inch. But what about the majority of North Americans (and the growing global army of eclipse-chasers) who want to plan their eclipse trip in advance? What are the best places to see the eclipse?
Path Of Totality
On April 8, everyone in North America will see a relatively uninteresting partial solar eclipse, but only the lucky and the organized will experience totality. The narrow path—just 115 miles wide, on average—is the moon’s central shadow, which will sweep across the continent in 99 minutes, from 1:07 p.m. Mexican time to 5:16 p.m. in Newfoundland. Moving from southwest to northeast, it will make land at the Pacific coast of Mexico and sweep through parts of Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila before moving into the U.S. to cross parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. In Canada, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland will also experience totality. Totality will last up to 4 minutes and 26 seconds, but only for those that make an effort.
Get To The Path
“People just need to get into the path of totality,” said Rick Feinberg, project manager of the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force at the American Astronomical Society. He thinks that during the last total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 many thousands of Americans mistakenly traveled from their homes to get closer to the path without actually reaching it. That’s pointless—all you’ll see if you do that is a slightly bigger partial solar eclipse. “If you get closer to the centerline of the path, totality will last longer, but you really don’t need to get to the centerline—just get into the path,” said Feinberg.
Watch The Skies
There is one proviso: weather. “In Indiana, the weather on April 8 sucks,” said McGlaun. “It could be terrible or, like it was this year, it could be glorious.” It is, therefore, better to make a final decision on your location a few days before the eclipse when forecasts become accurate. So, although being in a scenic location is nice, and being as close to the centerline of the path of totality will extend the duration of totality, the only important thing is just to be in the path under a clear sky.
However, the effort and hassle of making last-minute decisions isn’t for everyone—particularly those with families. “Find yourself a location in the path of totality that you want to visit that’s having an event and go there—take part in the community, enjoy the location, and if the weather is clear, it’s a bonus,” said Dr. Tyler Nordgren, an Ithaca, New York-based astronomer and eclipse artist at Space Art Travel Bureau. “Unless clear skies are forecasted for a half-hour drive away, stay where you are.”
Everyone will need solar eclipse glasses to safely view the partial phases of the eclipse, which precede and follow totality for those in the path. For those outside the path, the entire event will be partial and must be viewed through eclipse glasses for the entire time. However, those within the path must remove their glasses when it gets completely dark to see the sun’s corona.
Make A Plan Now
Price-gouging is taking place already, but only within the path of totality. Since the path is thousands of miles long, you could easily stay outside of it and drive into it on the day, but only if you plan carefully. The best advice here is to stay away from major cities and definitely don’t plan to stay somewhere between a big city and the path—places like Oklahoma City, St Louis and Detroit to the northwest of the path and Louisville and Pittsburgh to the southeast. Those areas could see thousands driving into the path on eclipse day.
However, there’s also a decent chance of finding a hotel room a few days before the eclipse. “There are serious eclipse chasers, who have made multiple reservations in multiple cities across the country, who are going to wait till about three days beforehand before deciding where to watch the eclipse, to see what the weather map predictions are,” said Nordgren. ‘“So there’s a good chance there could be a bunch of reservations that suddenly open up at about three days before the eclipse.”
The Next Eclipse
Total solar eclipses—when the moon blocks the sun in a perfect alignment and the sky darkens for a few minutes—occur in the same place on Earth roughly every 375 years. Of course, it’s less than that for a continent the size of North America, but the moon’s shadow won’t again fall on the contiguous U.S. states until 2044. It’s 2045 until there’s another total solar eclipse anywhere near the accessibility of this year’s.
However, total solar eclipses are not an American phenomenon and nor are they rare, globally speaking. They occur every 18 months (or so) somewhere on Earth. After April 8, 2024, the next total solar eclipse will be on August 12, 2026 in Greenland, Iceland and Spain.
I’m an expert on eclipses—the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024. For the very latest on the total solar eclipse—including travel and lodging options—please subscribe or check my main feed regularly for new articles.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
