Monday’s highly anticipated total solar eclipse has officially left U.S. skies after it plunged a large swath of the country into total darkness for as long as four minutes from Texas to Maine.
Stunning images of the cosmic phenomenon quickly spread online, showing the sun disappearing from the afternoon sky. As the eclipse progressed, videos showed the “diamond ring effect” created when the final beams of sunlight passed behind the moon—making it appear like the diamond on a giant ring.
Images spread online of scores of people flooding outside to catch a glimpse in cities across the country. In Cleveland, the Guardians pushed back their 2024 MLB home opener to commence after the total eclipse passed, and players lay on the outfield grass to take in the rare moment.
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In Arkansas, hundreds gathered for a mass wedding ceremony in a rural field just before totality reached there. At the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, golf spectators were given eclipse glasses to safely view the spectacle from the course.
Streetlights in both small towns and major cities, like Indianapolis, lit up as if it were dusk. Google Trends showed that searches about whether it’s safe to look at the sun or not (it is not) spiked during the eclipse.
Spectators at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, view the eclipse using glasses provided by the tournament.
Reuters/Adam CairnsThose images captured the vastness of the event, which comes just hours ahead of potential severe weather in the Southwest. That forecast still put a damper on some eclipse celebrations, forcing one highly anticipated event—the Texas Eclipse Festival—to cancel its festivities just hours before totality.
Local news stations reported that 30,000 people attended the festival, which began Friday and was slated to run through Tuesday just northwest of Austin. Melanie Hutzler told the Centre Daily Times that she’d met people from “everywhere” at the festival, including eclipse chasers who flew in from Seattle, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Festival organizers urged people to flee the event ASAP so they weren’t stuck in dangerous weather and traffic, but said it would allow festival-goers to stay through the totality as long as some left as soon as it ended.
The festival’s cancelation sums up the frustration of eclipse chasers who flocked to the Lone Star state, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas to witness a rare phenomenon but now must also contend with a forecast of “softball-sized” hail, isolated tornadoes, and wind gusts as high as 60 mph.
Among those giving a grim forecast was NBC News meteorologist Kathryn Prociv, who added that there is one silver lining for those who traveled hundreds—if not thousands—of miles to witness the eclipse: The worst of the storms were expected to begin just after the eclipse rolls through between 1:30 and 2:00 p.m. local time. In the eclipse’s first hour over the U.S., however, there was little chatter of bad weather spoiling the view.
The sun creeps behind the moon, photographed from Northern Mexico.
Reuters/Henry RomeroFederal forecasters have also warned eclipse chasers that it may not be safe to be outside at all—let alone traveling on the road—in the aftermath of the event.
As of 9:40 a.m. CT, the National Weather Service projected that severe weather would begin in portions of the totality zone that may include “scattered large to very large hail.”
“Do not be caught off guard today,” the NWS Storm Prediction Center wrote in a statement, adding, “Eclipse-related activities may be impacted and hazardous travel is possible.”
Scores of local TV meteorologists in the Southwest had warned that significant cloud cover threatened to minimize the spectacle for those in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas. It was unlucky weather for those who shelled out thousands in hopes of witnessing an uninterrupted glimpse of a total solar eclipse—a view that’s not expected to be possible again in the lower 48 states until August 12, 2045.
The famed scientist Bill Nye watched the eclipse in Fredericksburg, Texas. He said he’s acutely aware of the poor forecast, but told CNN that the spectacle will still be “amazing.”
“I’ve been in a total solar eclipse in 2002 when it was a little cloudy—it’s still amazing, you guys,” he said. “It goes dark. It turns to night in a few moments.”
Nye added that Earth is unique in that it’s the only place in our solar system that experiences total eclipses from a moon.
“There’s no place else in the solar system where that happens, but it happens here, probably doesn’t happen any other place nearby galactically and so appreciate it,” he told CNN. “It’s a remarkable thing where it goes completely dark when you're in the path.”
For those who caught the eclipse-chasing bug, those with the means to travel can make it another total solar eclipse as soon as 2026. That’s when the totality zone is expected to mostly pass over the Arctic Ocean, with some visibility in Greenland, Iceland, and parts of the Iberian Peninsula.
The year after that, in 2027, another total solar eclipse will be visible in Spain and North Africa. There will then be a 10-year wait, until 2033, when a total eclipse will cross Montana, South Dakota, Canada, and Greenland.
The next total solar eclipse visible from North America will be in 2033, but only over Alaska. Then in 2044, a total solar eclipse will cross Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and into Canada and Greenland.
Hotel occupancy on Monday reflected the rarity of the event, with eclipse chasers clamoring for rooms in tiny towns across the U.S. heartland. The travel tech company Amadeus reported that more than 90 percent of hotel rooms in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, were filled for the eclipse—a massive jump from the 8 percent occupancy it had on April 7, 2023.
It’s a similar story for other cities that found themselves in the totality path. Notable cities in that sliver include Austin, Dallas, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Burlington, Vermont. Hotel prices for Monday in those areas were, on average, $17o more expensive than their nightly rate a year prior, according to Amadeus.
Millions of Americans outside of the totality path, including those in New York City and Chicago, will be able to experience at least an 85 percent eclipse. In those areas, darkness will fall for as long as two hours with a sliver of the sun still visible, experts say. Within the path of totality, total darkness could last between 3.5 and 4 minutes, said University of Texas scientists.
Those hoping to witness the spectacle were encouraged to get their hands on eclipse glasses—if they were able to find any—or make DIY glasses to view the eclipse safely, as NASA explains here.
Officials urged people to make sure their eclipse specs are legitimate, especially after the Illinois Department of Public Health issued an urgent recall Monday for some that were sold by Amazon and warned they could cause “serious eye damage” if used.
The recalled glasses were labeled “Bikini Solar Eclipse Glasses AAs Approved 2024 - CE & ISO Certified Safe Shades for Direct Sun Viewing (6 Packs)” on Amazon.
Joe Biden was among the countless officials who warned against staring directly at the eclipse without proper protection—a dangerous decision that can lead to permanent vision damage. Donald Trump infamously stared straight into the 2017 solar eclipse, drawing the ire of scientists who feared others may follow his lead this time around.
In Biden’s PSA, he appeared to take a dig at Trump without naming him, sharing a short clip of him standing on a White House balcony—the same one Trump was on when he stared into the sun on the last eclipse—as he put on protective eyewear.
“An eclipse is worth marveling at,” he wrote. “But don’t be silly, folks—play it safe and wear protective eyewear.”
