Achi news desk-
MESQUITE, Texas (AP) – Eclipse watchers pulled out their spots across three states Sunday, desperately hoping for clear skies despite forecasts calling for clouds along most of the vanishing path of the sun
North America won’t see another coast-to-coast solar eclipse for 21 years, prompting anxiety and the mad rush of the weekend.
Monday’s extravaganza stretches from the Pacific beaches of Mexico to the rugged Atlantic shores of Canada, with 15 US states in between.
“I have reached the path of wholeness!” Ian Kluft announced Sunday afternoon after pulling into Mesquite from Portland, Oregon, a 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) ride.
A total eclipse occurs when the moon lines up perfectly between the Earth and the sun, eliminating sunlight. That means just over four minutes of daytime darkness east of Dallas in Mesquite, where locals like Jorge Martinez get a day off. The land surveyor plans to “witness history” from home with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter, Nati.
“Hopefully, she will remember. She’s excited too,” he said after breakfast at Dos Panchas Mexican Restaurant.
Inside the jammed restaurant, manager Adrian Martinez was counting on staying open Monday.
“He wished it was going to be sunny like today,” he said. “But clouding? Hopefully it’s still looking pretty good.”
Near Ennis, Texas, to the south, the Range Vintage Trailer Resort was also packed, selling out of spots more than a year ago.
“I ordered it right away, then I told my wife, ‘We’re going to Texas,'” said Gotham, England’s Chris Lomas of the trailer park on Sunday. Even if clouds hide the sun under a veil, “it will still be dark. It’s a matter of sharing the experience with other people,” he added.
In Cleveland, the eclipse persuaded Women’s Finals fans Matt and Sheila Powell to stick around an extra day after Sunday’s game. But they were debating whether they would start their journey home to Missouri Valley, Iowa, early Monday in search of clearer skies along the path of the eclipse. “We try to be flexible,” Powell said.
Even the eclipse professionals were up in the air.
Eclipse mapper Michael Zeiler had a perfect record before Monday, seeing 11 out of 11 total solar eclipses after successfully relocating three of those times at the last minute for better weather.
“We are the complete opposite of tornado chasers, always seeking clear skies,” Zeiler said in an email over the weekend. This time, though, he was staying in Fredericksburg, Texas, with his family, 10 of them in all, and holding “a considerable ray of hope.”
Further north, in Buffalo, New York, Jeff Sherman flew in from Somerville, Massachusetts, to capture his second total solar eclipse. After seeing the US coast-to-coast eclipse in 2017, “now I have to see anyone who’s nearby, he said.
Kluft also enjoyed clear skies for the 2017 eclipse, in Oregon, and rolled into Mesquite wearing a T-shirt from that big event. As for Monday’s cloudy forecast across Texas, “at least I’ll be around like-minded people.”
Fair weather was also forecast almost all the way to Lake Erie, despite Sunday’s beautiful weather. The only places promised clear skies along a narrow 115-mile-wide (185-kilometer-wide) corridor Monday were New England and Canada.
Like everywhere else, the weather was the hot topic at Buffalo Navy and Military Park on Sunday. By mid-morning, volunteer Tom Villa had already greeted tourists from several states, as well as Canada and Brazil.
“They hope it will be like this tomorrow, of course, but you know, the weather is the weather,” he said.
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AP reporters Jamie Stengle near Ennis, Texas; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; and Stephanie Nano in Cleveland contributed.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content
Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press
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