Clouds are expected at these solar eclipse hotspots

US News

by Anita Bholi

You can't be stuck!

Cloudy weather is expected to steal the thunder from a rare total solar eclipse in some of the hottest destinations to capture the celestial marvel.

Niagara Falls in New York is expected to see “large clouds,” while Erie, Pennsylvania, is expected to have “cloudy skies with a slight chance of rain,” according to CNN. Fox Weather.

Niagara Falls is widely considered one of the best observing sites in the eclipse's 15-state path, and already has an estimated 1 million people planning to flock to the Buffalo area. The city receives an average of 14 million visitors annually.

National Geographic magazine has listed the famous waterfalls as one of the best places to view the eclipse – a phenomenon not seen in the region since 1979.

The city lies within the path where the moon will completely block the sun for a few minutes.

Stargazers' attraction to the area was so intense that last month Canada preemptively declared a state of emergency in preparation for an influx of visitors down its side of the falls.

The announcement will allow the city of Ontario — also called Niagara Falls — to implement additional planning to help prepare for traffic congestion, cell phone network overloads, increased need for emergency services, and more.

At the time, Niagara Regional President Jim Bradley acknowledged that the state of emergency was declared “out of an abundance of caution” — with some backlash from advocacy groups over the move.

The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) filed a notice seeking judicial review of the declaration this week and called on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to intervene.

“CCF is deeply concerned about the proliferation of emergency declarations in situations where there are no true emergencies,” the group said in a statement. Global news.

The state of emergency remains in effect at the present time.

Meanwhile, in Erie, hotels are almost sold out, and rooms still available for $1,000 a night are being sold out as nearly 200,000 people descend on the area.

Mayor Joe Schember told… Newspaper post It's “the largest number of people we've ever attended an event in Erie.”

While money is expected to flow into the community – with revenue estimated at up to $50 million – hundreds of thousands of visitors could face a different deluge with bad weather forecast.

Although clouds and rain are expected in the area, officials told the Post-Gazette there is still a lot to do.

“You will continue to experience complete darkness, the temperature dropping, and nocturnal animals starting to move,” John Oliver, president of VisitErie, told the publication.