Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - With the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse less than two months away on Monday, April 8, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown announced on Wednesday the launch of a new city webpage to prepare residents and visitors to safely view and navigate the once in a lifetime celestial event.
Buffalo sits directly in the Path of Totality for the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse, and will experience 3 minutes and 46 seconds of complete totality. That’s one minute longer than the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse that swept through the middle of the United States.
The City’s new eclipse web page is where residents and visitors can find information about viewing locations, what to expect and most importantly, how to view the eclipse safely. Viewing a total solar eclipse can be damaging to your eyes if not done safely.
"I want to thank City of Buffalo Commissioners and Directors, as well as our many eclipse stakeholders, for working hard on a strategic plan for this historical astronomical event for our area," stated Mayor Brown on Wednesday. "Buffalo is bracing for tens of thousands of sky watchers to converge on the area to view the eclipse, and we are doing everything we can to make this event as safe and as enjoyable as possible in neighborhoods citywide."
Below is the expected eclipse timeline in Buffalo on April 8:
- Partial eclipse will begin at 2:04 p.m. ET
- Totality will begin at 3:18 p.m. ET
- Totality ends at 3:22 p.m. ET
- Totality lasts 3 minutes and 46 seconds
- Partial Eclipse ends at 4:32 p.m. ET
- Overall eclipse duration: 2 hours 28 minutes; During totality, it will become dark even if cloudy.
Officials estimate the Buffalo area could draw up to as many as 1 million tourists over the span of about four days, packing hotels and restaurants, congesting roadways, but also generating a major economic impact for Buffalo’s tourism and hospitality industries.
Because of this, the City’s Eclipse Task Force, which includes Buffalo’s new Emergency Manager Thomas Luby and representatives from the Buffalo Police and Fire Departments, Department of Public Works, Parking, Parks, and Special Events, has been meeting regularly in an effort to ensure all areas of the city are prepared.
Educating the public is a major focus for the City’s Task Force, and is why the webpage was launched.
The new City of Buffalo webpage includes the following features:
- Information for residents, businesses, and visitors to help them prepare and plan for the eclipse, including traffic and parking information, and other alerts that will continually be updated. To stay best informed, City residents should text ECLIPSE to 38276 to receive informational text messages leading up to the eclipse.
- Locations of digital messaging boards.
- Information on how to safely view a Total Solar Eclipse in Buffalo.
- City parks will be open on April 8th but all pre-scheduled activities, (like spring sport practices on fields and diamonds) will not be scheduled on that day. More details to come.
- If an organization is planning to host a large-scale eclipse event on City-owned property (i.e. streets, sidewalks, parks, etc.), they must complete a City of Buffalo Special Events application, a minimum of 30 days in advance.
- The page will also provide families with tips on creating a communication and an emergency plan (or meeting place), as cell phone disruptions may occur on April 8th. For more information, go to https://www.ready.gov/plan or click here to Create Your Family Emergency Communication Plan (ready.gov).
- A countdown to Solar Eclipse Day in Buffalo.
- Information on many of the wonderful cultural things to do in Buffalo!
Included in the City of Buffalo’s new webpage is a link to the landing page for Visit Buffalo Niagara, which is posting "All Things Eclipse", along with highlights about the best things to do in the Buffalo regions. There is also a calendar of publicly sanctioned events around the region. To add your events to this calendar, go to https://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/buffalo-eclipse-2024/submitan-event/.
Find more information at visitbuffaloniagara.com/buffalo-eclipse-2024/.