Weather woes, weddings and wows in U.S.
Street lights blinked on and the planets came into view, as the moon shrouded the sun for a few minutes across the land. Dogs howled, frogs croaked and some people wept, all part of the eclipse mania gripping Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
It was North America’s biggest eclipse audience ever, and almost everyone could see at least a partial eclipse, weather permitting.
Clouds blanketed most of Texas as the eclipse began its diagonal dash across land, starting along Mexico’s mostly clear Pacific coast and aiming for Texas and 14 other U.S. states, before exiting into the North Atlantic near Newfoundland. In some cities, the skies cleared just in time to give spectators a clear view. In other spots, the eclipse played peek-a-boo with the clouds.
In Mexico, as the darkness of totality reached the city of Mazatlán at noon, the faces of spectators were illuminated only by the screens of their cellphones. The cliff-hanging uncertainty of the weather added to the drama.
Eclipse spectators at Niagara Falls State Park had to settle for darkness, but no stunning corona views. As people made their way out of the park a little more than an hour later, the sun broke through.
For some, eclipse day was also their wedding day. Couples exchanged vows in a mass ceremony at a park in Trenton, Ohio.
The path of totality — approximately 185 kilometres wide — encompassed several major cities this time, including Dallas; Indianapolis; Cleveland; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Montreal. An estimated 44 million people live within the track, with a couple hundred million more within 320 kilometres.
Experts from NASA and universities were posted along the route, launching research rockets and weather balloons, and conducting experiments.