On April 8, 2024, the contiguous United States will witness its last total solar eclipse for the next 20 years

[TonyR]

Where & how to see the upcoming April 2024 total solar eclipse

Where & how to see the upcoming April 2024 total solar eclipse

Read the AAA guide on how you can safely see the 2024 total solar eclipse, and how to find spots across the country likely to have the best viewing experience.

www.ace.aaa.com

 

[gwminor48]

Where & how to see the upcoming April 2024 total solar eclipse

Where & how to see the upcoming April 2024 total solar eclipse

Read the AAA guide on how you can safely see the 2024 total solar eclipse, and how to find spots across the country likely to have the best viewing experience.

www.ace.aaa.com

I'm directly in the path, maybe I should do some reading and learn how to do a time lapse.

 

[The Automation Guy]

Having seen "totality" during a previous solar eclipse, I can honestly say that it was worth the effort to see it. There is literally nothing like it in the world, but the difference between "totality" and 98% coverage is huge. You definitely want to experience "totality" if you can.

To that end, if you have never experienced totality, I would highly recommend that you make an effort to see it, especially if it's not too far to travel. I promise you won't regret it (unless it is cloudy that day).

 

[SOB]

I'm directly in the path of totality, like smack dab in the center of the path. I'm looking forward to seeing it. My kids have the day off school and I'm excited for them to experience it as well. What I'm NOT looking forward to is the flood of visitors that are supposed to flock to our very rural county that weekend. We have ~36k residents in our county and they're estimating 100-160k visitors that weekend. We cannot handle that - our roads, stores, gas stations, hotels (there's maybe two or three) even with all this notice will not be able to handle it. It's going to be chaos and I hope that these visitors will be respectful of other peoples property and pick up after themselves, but I know many of them won't. I have a feeling I'll be busy all weekend policing my property, running off squatters, and it's going to ruin the experience for me.

 

[tigerwillow1]

We have ~36k residents in our county and they're estimating 100-160k visitors that weekend. We cannot handle that - our roads, stores, gas stations, hotels (there's maybe two or three) even with all this notice will not be able to handle it. It's going to be chaos and I hope that these visitors will be respectful of other peoples property and pick up after themselves, but I know many of them won't. I have a feeling I'll be busy all weekend policing my property, running off squatters, and it's going to ruin the experience for me.

We had a total eclipse that went through rural Oregon a few years ago, and had the same sort of estimates with warnings of gridlocked roads, properties being overrun, etc. The actual result was...nothing of any consequence, a.k.a. a nothingburger. I'm in no position to predict the future, just reporting the past.

 

[SOB]

We had a total eclipse that went through rural Oregon a few years ago, and had the same sort of estimates with warnings of gridlocked roads, properties being overrun, etc. The actual result was...nothing of any consequence, a.k.a. a nothingburger. I'm in no position to predict the future, just reporting the past.

Gosh I hope that’s the case here. This total eclipse sure seems to be getting a lot of publicity but maybe that’s because the last one didn’t come through Ohio. Looking at traffic maps following the 2017 eclipse most states west of the Mississippi were spared of heavy congestion, probably thanks to population density, but when you get closer to the east coast things got crazy. I’m located less than 2 hours from Detroit and Columbus (both cities are out of the path of totality) and we have a main 4-lane highway going through the county. That’s why we expect a lot of visitors.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I’m located less than 2 hours from Detroit and Columbus (both cities are out of the path of totality) and we have a main 4-lane highway going through the county

The places I'm talking about are 3 to 4 hours out of Portland, a longer drive from a smaller city than your situation. The press and various pundits were totally beside themselves predicting the crisis.