Lousy weather puts a damper on solar eclipse viewing parties in the path of totality: ‘Disappointed’
Better luck in 2099!
In Erie, Pennsylvania, eager solar eclipse spectators — some of whom shelled out more than $1,000 for a couple nights in the city — will likely have to wait another 75 years to see the celestial dance after a gloomy blanket of overcast weather rolled into the region.
Erie is set to experience three minutes and 39 seconds of the moon blocking out the sun, but dark clouds have already been doing that job perfectly well all day.
As a result, the city’s main downtown viewing area, Perry Square, was damp and sparsely populated.
Overcast conditions also played spoilsport in Texas, which boasts more residents in the totality than any other state, and in western New York — including Niagara.
Houston isn’t in the direct path of totality, but with 94% of the sun expected to be blocked out at the 1:40 p.m. peak, hopes were high for an impressive display.
At NASA’s Space Center, tourists from all over the country were expected to gather to view the eclipse in a special seating area right alongside the space shuttle.
That is, until gray, cloudy skies and drizzle cast a pall over planned celebrations, setting up what looked like a disappointing day for eclipse viewers in Space City.
Shortly before the 12:20 start of the eclipse the crowd was only just starting to trickle in.
Spectator Hugo Sanchez told The Post that he’s already “disappointed” he won’t be able to see what will be his second eclipse.
Everything to know about the 2024 solar eclipse
- The solar eclipse will take place Monday, April 8, blocking the sun for over 180 million people in its path.
- The eclipse will expand from Mexico’s Pacific Coast across North America, hitting 15 US states and pulling itself all the way to the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
- New Yorkers will experience the solar eclipse just after 2 p.m. Monday.
- A huge explosion on the sun, known as a coronal mass ejection, is anticipated, according to experts. This happens when massive particles from the sun are hurled out into space, explains Ryan French of the National Solar Observatory in Boulder, Colorado.
- To avoid serious injury to the eyes, it is necessary to view the event through proper eyewear like eclipse glasses, or a handheld solar viewer, during the partial eclipse phase before and after totality.
- The next total solar eclipse will take place on Aug. 12, 2026, and totality will be visible to those in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia and a small slice of Portugal.
The last one he saw was in Venezuela in 1998, which he described as being the perfect viewing experience.
“I’m sad that it looks like this,” Sanchez said of the Houston weather.
As the minutes ticked by, the sun’s rays slowly started peeking through the cloud cover, giving spectators hope the uncooperative weather could be clearing up just in time.
In Dallas, which is directly in the path of totality, one local weather personality posted a photo of an overcast sky and quipped, “perfect viewing conditions.”
In Erie, peak totality was set for 3:16 p.m., when dignitaries like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg are expected to appear — but from the looks of things this morning it might not be much darker by the time the eclipse reaches totality.
Visitors have spent big bucks to snap up coveted hotel rooms in the city, with those facing Lake Erie costing well into four-figures per night.
“I think it’s up to $1,200 now. It was $1,000 a while back when it started,” Brandy Heath, 26, a bartender at Oliver’s rooftop bar atop the Hampton Inn Suites told The Post during a smoke break.
“There’s one room left. I’ll be bartending all day.”
Richard Park, 61, who traveled from Pittsburgh to witness the cosmic event, took the lousy weather in stride. “It’s unexpected, but what’re you gonna do? It’s weather,” he quipped.
Officials at the Erie Downtown Partnership were setting up activities for the afternoon, and urged sky-gazers not to be deterred.
“The rain is supposed to clear up and it’s definitely going to get dark whether there are clouds or not, so you will experience totality,” assured Dave Tamulonis, the events and marketing manager for the tourism organization.
Heath, the local bartender, said tourists who were expecting the sun and moon to put on a show would likely be drowning their sorrows if the overcast day puts a damper on the celestial spectacle.
“I feel like they’re just going to booze it up to ease the anger,” she said.
