Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - While it wasn't a picture-perfect day to view the Total Solar Eclipse in Downtown Buffalo on Monday, many felt they still got their money's worth over the span of a couple of hours.
Just before total darkness descended upon the city, there was a brief moment of the clouds above breaking up just enough for people in attendance at Sahlen Field, home of the MiLB's Buffalo Bisons, to get one final glimpse of the Moon covering the Sun along the Path of Totality.
However, before the skies over Buffalo darkened for the 3 minutes and 45 seconds of total darkness, the cloud cover thickened, thus allowing for only a few across Western New York to get a clear view of the Sun completely covered by the Moon.
Regardless of the cloud cover totally obscuring the eclipse downtown, many were still left in awe by what transpired in the nearly four minutes of totality.
"It was absolutely cool. You got to see it, it peeked in-and-out, in-and-out. If you look now, there's nothing. So it decided to do its peak at the [right] time," said Bruce from West Seneca, attending the eclipse viewing event at Sahlen Field with his wife.
"Everybody that was wherever they were will always say 10 years from now, 20 years or how many years from now, 'I was at...' So I will say, 'I was at the ballpark that day.' I guess that's what it is."
For Samantha from Colorado Springs, Colo., this is the second chance she's had to view a Total Solar Eclipse, dating back to the 2017 eclipse. Her trip to Western New York was special for more than one reason, as she was also in town to celebrate her anniversary with her husband, Seth.
"I'm slightly bummed that we didn't get to see it in totality, but it's still incredible. It's an incredible experience," said Samantha on Monday. "Even just the shift to dark so suddenly, and then light in the middle of the day, it's incredible. Even just the feel."
For Seth, this was his first eclipse experience, as he was living in Massachusetts for the 2017 event and did not get to see much of the Total Solar Eclipse then.
"This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience, for sure, even though she's experienced it twice now. I definitely wish that I had seen the first one, but I guess it's maybe even more special by the fact that I'm here with her," said Seth.
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Meanwhile, for best friends Shelley Sherman and Janet Langenthal of Long Island, a trip to Buffalo had been in the cards for a while, especially for Sherman, who graduated from the University at Buffalo.
"We had talked about it from the last [eclipse] in 2017. 'When 2024 comes, we're going to Buffalo for the eclipse,'" said Langenthal on Monday. "We always follow through on what we like to do, which we're best friends, and we said we're just going to have a girls weekend. That's what we did.
"There was enough clearing, considering it was so cloudy today. And the darkness, it was just unbelievable. You get the chills."
During Monday's event at Sahlen Field, four NASA scientists were on-hand to help educate the public on all things that should be known about the eclipse, space, and also the moon.
One of the scientists on-hand Monday was Angela Stickle, who also works at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. This was her first experience with a Total Solar Eclipse, and despite the thick cloud cover for total darkness, it was an trip well worth her time.
"It was fantastic. It was cloudy, which was a little bit of a bummer, but we got to see the moon coming in, because it was peeking out so you can see the moon covering the Sun. It got a little cold, it got really, really dark. It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and it's dark like midnight. It was unbelievable," said Stickle following Monday's eclipse. "And Buffalo did not disappoint. People were really excited. We got to share this experience with a whole bunch of people, so it was just really fun."
With the eclipse known to be sweeping through Western New York for quite some time, there were a number of different eclipse viewing plans across the region for people to enjoy this once in a lifetime celestial event.
So why did people choose Sahlen Field, in particular, to take in Monday's Total Solar Eclipse?
For Bruce, he was actually thinking about taking a bike ride with his wife down to the Buffalo Outer Harbor until he saw the event at the ballpark taking place.
"We ended up coming down here. I had seen it on the news, and there was no place that seemed crowded. So we were glad that we came here. It was nice that everybody was into it," Bruce said.
For Samantha and Seth, they weren't exactly sure where they were going to take in the eclipse until they got to town and the person at the front desk of their hotel recommended Sahlen Field.
"It was a NASA-hosted event, which we just thought would be really cool. We didn't really have any set plans either, we weren't really sure where to go. So this sounded like a cool place to go, and it's a part of Buffalo, so we were excited to come here," Samantha said.
The allure of NASA being at the ballpark to host with the Bisons was what sold both Sherman and Langenthal just days before the eclipse.
"We had been pondering, we were studying, and I'm telling you two days ago, the Sahlen Field [event] came up, and I felt we were enclosed, we would be talking with NASA. We would be getting direction, we'd be getting other insights about the solar system, and chairs, bathrooms," said Sherman.
"We were talking about Niagara Falls, we were talking about the Niagara State Park, she has a friend who lives in Buffalo and said we can watch in their backyard. We were trying to figure out where to go, and then the hotel was having a party. I don't know, she called me two nights ago. 'Look at what I just found!' And I'm like, 'That's it.' And it was great," Langenthal added.
For NASA scientists like Stickle, she admits it was her love of baseball, paired with her knack for educating others on space, that drew her to take part in Monday's educational program at the ballpark.
"When we got the opportunity to come here to support the Bisons' event, it was a no brainer," Stickle said. "Buffalo is a cool place, we got to share the totality, and I think the Bisons did a great job. They put on a wonderful event, and it was just really fun to get to share this with all of the people here."
Stickle had started her weekend in Ithaca before making her way to Buffalo, but says the experience of Western and Central New York was one she was super appreciative of.
"The people were just super excited, they were super friendly. It's been really nice to just have this experience," she said. "I think when you see things like this, sharing it with other people makes it so much better. So people were just so welcoming, and excited to hear us talk about space and NASA. I'm just really glad we could come and support this."
As for the others who made the trek to Western New York for the eclipse and beyond, they, too, have been impressed with the City of Buffalo and what the region has to offer.
"I actually love what's happened with Buffalo. I think we have fixed up the downtown, it's a lot different from when I was here," Sherman said.
"We're going out to the Buffalo Chophouse, which we're excited about. We've never been here before, so we don't actually have a ton of plans. But we're here until Friday, so we're kind of asking around, seeing what's recommended to do, because we don't really know," Samantha added of the city.
The next time a Total Solar Eclipse is set to take place in North America won't be for another 20 years in 2044 in the Northern part of the Midwest. Then in 2045, another Total Solar Eclipse will cut a path through the Southern part of the United States.
