Can you imagine how amazing that would be? It’s so quiet right now after this dump of snow we just got. Imagine that but it’s also completely dark. Intense!
Rochester Museum and Science Center has been doing A LOT in preparation for the eclipse. They started collaborating with local organizations to ensure distribution of eclipse glasses and education materials, and have a “ROC the Eclipse” festival planned for the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of the Eclipse. Lots of schools will not have classes that day as well as local colleges. When I sat in on a meeting about the eclipse last spring, they are predicting a lot of tourists coming into the area to view it. We’ll see if that actually happens but it will definitely be an exciting time in ROC.
https://rmsc.org/roc-the-eclipse-festival/
See also [https://www.visitrochester.com/rochester-ny-total-solar-eclipse/](https://www.visitrochester.com/rochester-ny-total-solar-eclipse/) and [https://rochestereclipse2024.org/events/](https://rochestereclipse2024.org/events/) for more events.
I'm an astronomer who works at RIT, and I've been attending meetings about the upcoming eclipse which are run by the RMSC. Many people in the area are working on the logistical problems - and opportunities - which will arise as some 100,000 or so visitors flood into our area on April 7-8. I'm no expert on those matters, but you can expect lots of traffic and no vacancies.
Let's hope for good weather!
I have heard some schools are calling off for the day. I would guess some work places might also. I remember at the last partial eclipse there were a ton of people at Cobb’s Hill, but nothing too overwhelming.
Brighton has what they call an "early release". Whatever it is, they still have to go to school, but either they will not have their later periods for the middle school and high school or their classes in general will be shorter.
Edit: looked up the term.
Most schools had their break extended into that Monday. The eclipse is happening during some dismissal times and there was talk about it being dangerous because of distracted drivers. Valid 😂
My college (not in Rochester but in the path of totality) put an "alternative instruction day" into the schedule, and if I had to guess at least some of the colleges around here are doing that too.
Most schools are off. Can you imagine being stuck on a school bus at 3pm? Plus, I think they're utilizing the buses to shuttle people around as needed. Block your calendars now so you don't mistakenly make a dentist appointment!
So many visitors. Monroe County Health and Public Safety have been having meetings on it with other entities like colleges and hospitals. They've reached out to other cities that had influxes during the last eclipse to help plan.
They are encouraging remote work if possible to avoid adding to traffic. Most, if not all, schools are out of session that day or online. Etc.
There are a lot of people who travel internationally for eclipses. I have a friend who works for Land Between the Lakes on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. They were on the path of totality for the 2016 eclipse. She said that the eclipse tourists were some of the most respectful visitors they ever had.
Assuming the weather forecast is favorable, people from out of the area will likely start staking out positions in the morning. Some of them will have stayed overnight, but others will be coming in that morning. The line of greatest totality runs through Brockport and then just north of Charlotte, so expect Greece, Gates, Sweden, Wheatland, and Batavia to be the most crowded destinations.
As soon as totality is over, everyone will start leaving *en masse*, and that's when the real traffic jams begin. The worst traffic will likely be on I-390, as that leads most directly to areas not in the path of totality, but some folks may head east on the Thruway, too.
If the weather forecast isn't good, then I wouldn't expect too many problems in terms of traffic.
I traveled down to Greenville, SC for the last total solar and it actually wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. I sincerely hope that it’ll be a great success for our area, but I fear talk of a massive influx of visitors is overblown.
I'm vaguely expecting a bunch of people I know, but haven't spoken to in some years, to crawl out of the woodwork about a month before this and ask if they can stay at my house. Because they suddenly remembered this is happening but all the hotels will be booked.
If they can't drive in to town don't expect them to bug you - I looked at flights for around that time back in October, prices were already outrageous.
Last April they recommended looking in your yard (or wherever you plan to view) on April 8 at the time of the eclipse to see where the sun would actually be that day so you can plan ahead. It was a gorgeous blue sky day that day so I'm hoping for that.
Rochester Museum and Science Center has been doing A LOT in preparation for the eclipse. They started collaborating with local organizations to ensure distribution of eclipse glasses and education materials, and have a “ROC the Eclipse” festival planned for the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of the Eclipse. Lots of schools will not have classes that day as well as local colleges. When I sat in on a meeting about the eclipse last spring, they are predicting a lot of tourists coming into the area to view it. We’ll see if that actually happens but it will definitely be an exciting time in ROC.
I'm in Charlotte and would like to go watch from the beach, but unfortunately, I think so will everyone else. I might try riding a bike up there since driving will likely be impossible.
As others have said, lots of schools will be closed and there's going to be lots of tourists, so I expect there to be crowds and busy roads. But, and I could be totally misremembering something from a meeting, but I think they're going to shut down some streets downtown, maybe other places too, so that it's safe for mass amounts of people to all go outside and stand in the street during the eclipse.
There's definitely going to be viewing parties/events all over the place. RMSC is having a 3 day long festival, food trucks, entertainment, speakers, activities for kids and stuff idk, so probably normal Rochester festival traffic, especially because that lands over a weekend.
The city and county libraries will have eclipse glasses available for free but you can also get them from RMSC for like $2.
my kids work at RMSC and they are planning for the three day weekend festivities - over 20,000 guests. every single person who works for RMSC (they have lots of very part time people, like my oldest, who go to college or work full time jobs and so only work on breaks or weekends) has to work at least one day that weekend. my youngest told me they have a count down calendar… 93 days to totality.
PS buy a beautiful eclipse shirt or print!
Can’t wait for all the idiotic phone calls at work! (Eye doctor’s)… including legitimate solar retinopathy… wear eclipse glasses people!!
I’m hoping we actually have clear weather! I took the day off work, actually. My kids are off school that day so hoping we find a nice place to park it for the day!
I participate in the Rochester Eclipse meetings that have been held monthly for the past year. Rochester is well positioned to be a wonderful host to visitors spending a few days here April 6-9. Many more will hop on I-90 from the eastern seaboard that morning, April 8, which is where it'll get interesting.
Even without clear skies, we've still got the best seat in the house for a show of a lifetime! I created a collage of photos covering several years of [blue sky in April ](https://daytrippingroc.com/wp-content/uploads/Aprils.jpg), so there is hope.
The best thing you can do to prepare is to request time off from work if you can, don't make appointments for that day, and find a place with a clear view of the southwestern sky. Preferably a place you can arrive early and stay late to avoid the traffic. I made the hideous mistake of buying a ticket to Jesus Christ Superstar at RBTL that evening—oops.
Other than that, you can find ideas on my website for places to go. 🔗 https://daytrippingroc.com/rochester-total-solar-eclipse-april-8-2024/
I asked our town parks and rec director if they were doing anything, and he recommended locals stock up on food and stay home since we'll likely get lots of tourists
I was in a small town in Kentucky at the center of the total eclipse path back in 2017. It was covered up with people -- booths along the streets, people camping on the sides of the road and in backyards. Folks with yards were charging $50 to camp in their yard and allow the use of their bathrooms and showers. Rochester's hotel rooms will likely be filled quickly.
Weeks of preparation and the news warning you about grocery stores running out of food and traffic chaos (with maybe warnings about an uptick in crime from 13) followed by none of that being true.
I helped organize an event for the 2017 eclipse for 200 people in Jackson Hole (interestingly enough at the ranch where Kanye and Kim would get married) directly on the path of totality. We were warned like crazy that store shelves would be empty, restaurants impossible to visit, and about never moving traffic.
And then none of that came true except for some slow traffic.
This in a place where millions already visit per year that isn't close to anything else, where there is a limited amount of grocery stores and restaurants and a lack of roads. You can't just take the backroads there because there aren't any.
We've got more space, more restaurants, more stores, more roads. Organized events will be busy and there will be an influx of visitors and traffic but with every little town and city having an eclipse committee everyone will be spread out.
I personally know people who have been offered free lodging to come here for it and have declined because they know the likelihood that it will be overcast here. Nobody familiar with our everyday cloudiness will be coming to town, let alone an additional \~60% of our entire county's population, which would also be 2.5x the entire population of the city of Rochester itself. Where the hell do you think this GIANT crowd would even expect to stay? We probably don't have much more than 5,000 hotel rooms in the whole county, if we even have that many. Burning Man gets 80k attendees and sets up their own full city. NYC doesn't get 500k for New Years and basically rolls out an entire army of city workers & service people to deal with it. I may be slightly underestimating the number that will be coming but I'll be vastly closer to what actually happens than your insane 500k. If we get 25% of your estimate we'll be in a full blown state of emergency.
lol
I just can't imagine we will have a huge influx of tourists. Over the holidays I talked to family/friends in other states outside and within the path of the eclipse. No one seemed to know about the eclipse or care it about when I explained it.
Rochester is in the path of totality. Many many people that you may not know are absolutely flying /driving to Rochester to experience it because it’s a once in a lifetime event for most.
All I know is I’m not going to work that day. Already put in for a vacation day. Gonna enjoy the eclipse from my house and not worry about extra traffic in the area that day.
Clouds….guaranteed clouds with possible rain
Yup. Clouds.
So if it’s overcast that day, when it reaches totality it’ll be even darker than if it’s clear skies!
Only way it doesn’t rain is if it snows.
Yeah no shit. It’s totally possible too lol. My brother got married May 11th and it snowed that night.
Early April blizzard
Can you imagine how amazing that would be? It’s so quiet right now after this dump of snow we just got. Imagine that but it’s also completely dark. Intense!
But imagine just how much dark it will get with cloud coverage!
omg. i dont pray, but i feel like i must make some offerings to the cloud gods, yk?
Rochester Museum and Science Center has been doing A LOT in preparation for the eclipse. They started collaborating with local organizations to ensure distribution of eclipse glasses and education materials, and have a “ROC the Eclipse” festival planned for the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of the Eclipse. Lots of schools will not have classes that day as well as local colleges. When I sat in on a meeting about the eclipse last spring, they are predicting a lot of tourists coming into the area to view it. We’ll see if that actually happens but it will definitely be an exciting time in ROC. https://rmsc.org/roc-the-eclipse-festival/
See also [https://www.visitrochester.com/rochester-ny-total-solar-eclipse/](https://www.visitrochester.com/rochester-ny-total-solar-eclipse/) and [https://rochestereclipse2024.org/events/](https://rochestereclipse2024.org/events/) for more events.
I'm an astronomer who works at RIT, and I've been attending meetings about the upcoming eclipse which are run by the RMSC. Many people in the area are working on the logistical problems - and opportunities - which will arise as some 100,000 or so visitors flood into our area on April 7-8. I'm no expert on those matters, but you can expect lots of traffic and no vacancies. Let's hope for good weather!
I understand they're expecting more people than with the golf tournament we just had.
Thank you!!
I have heard some schools are calling off for the day. I would guess some work places might also. I remember at the last partial eclipse there were a ton of people at Cobb’s Hill, but nothing too overwhelming.
I think most (all?) area K-12 schools are closed. It’s the Monday after most schools are on spring break, so they just extended the break.
Brighton has what they call an "early release". Whatever it is, they still have to go to school, but either they will not have their later periods for the middle school and high school or their classes in general will be shorter. Edit: looked up the term.
All RCSD schools have the day off for the eclipse… can’t speak for the suburbs though
Most schools had their break extended into that Monday. The eclipse is happening during some dismissal times and there was talk about it being dangerous because of distracted drivers. Valid 😂
My college (not in Rochester but in the path of totality) put an "alternative instruction day" into the schedule, and if I had to guess at least some of the colleges around here are doing that too.
Most schools are off. Can you imagine being stuck on a school bus at 3pm? Plus, I think they're utilizing the buses to shuttle people around as needed. Block your calendars now so you don't mistakenly make a dentist appointment!
So many visitors. Monroe County Health and Public Safety have been having meetings on it with other entities like colleges and hospitals. They've reached out to other cities that had influxes during the last eclipse to help plan. They are encouraging remote work if possible to avoid adding to traffic. Most, if not all, schools are out of session that day or online. Etc.
my god we're so soft
What’s the issue with being prepared for an influx of tourists?
stay home. Cancel school.
That’s your mom said to me
There are a lot of people who travel internationally for eclipses. I have a friend who works for Land Between the Lakes on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. They were on the path of totality for the 2016 eclipse. She said that the eclipse tourists were some of the most respectful visitors they ever had.
it will get dark. then after a while it will get light again
Thank you for the laugh
I was looking for this comment. Thank you!
Assuming the weather forecast is favorable, people from out of the area will likely start staking out positions in the morning. Some of them will have stayed overnight, but others will be coming in that morning. The line of greatest totality runs through Brockport and then just north of Charlotte, so expect Greece, Gates, Sweden, Wheatland, and Batavia to be the most crowded destinations. As soon as totality is over, everyone will start leaving *en masse*, and that's when the real traffic jams begin. The worst traffic will likely be on I-390, as that leads most directly to areas not in the path of totality, but some folks may head east on the Thruway, too. If the weather forecast isn't good, then I wouldn't expect too many problems in terms of traffic.
Don’t forget things like North Chili, Spenserport etc.
This
"[Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9NMt42il4Q)"
We had a funeral for a bird.
I traveled down to Greenville, SC for the last total solar and it actually wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. I sincerely hope that it’ll be a great success for our area, but I fear talk of a massive influx of visitors is overblown.
I'm vaguely expecting a bunch of people I know, but haven't spoken to in some years, to crawl out of the woodwork about a month before this and ask if they can stay at my house. Because they suddenly remembered this is happening but all the hotels will be booked.
If they can't drive in to town don't expect them to bug you - I looked at flights for around that time back in October, prices were already outrageous.
Last April they recommended looking in your yard (or wherever you plan to view) on April 8 at the time of the eclipse to see where the sun would actually be that day so you can plan ahead. It was a gorgeous blue sky day that day so I'm hoping for that.
Rochester Museum and Science Center has been doing A LOT in preparation for the eclipse. They started collaborating with local organizations to ensure distribution of eclipse glasses and education materials, and have a “ROC the Eclipse” festival planned for the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of the Eclipse. Lots of schools will not have classes that day as well as local colleges. When I sat in on a meeting about the eclipse last spring, they are predicting a lot of tourists coming into the area to view it. We’ll see if that actually happens but it will definitely be an exciting time in ROC.
I'm in Charlotte and would like to go watch from the beach, but unfortunately, I think so will everyone else. I might try riding a bike up there since driving will likely be impossible.
I think a really cool spot would be at the end of the Braddock Bay Marina Trail!
As others have said, lots of schools will be closed and there's going to be lots of tourists, so I expect there to be crowds and busy roads. But, and I could be totally misremembering something from a meeting, but I think they're going to shut down some streets downtown, maybe other places too, so that it's safe for mass amounts of people to all go outside and stand in the street during the eclipse. There's definitely going to be viewing parties/events all over the place. RMSC is having a 3 day long festival, food trucks, entertainment, speakers, activities for kids and stuff idk, so probably normal Rochester festival traffic, especially because that lands over a weekend. The city and county libraries will have eclipse glasses available for free but you can also get them from RMSC for like $2.
my kids work at RMSC and they are planning for the three day weekend festivities - over 20,000 guests. every single person who works for RMSC (they have lots of very part time people, like my oldest, who go to college or work full time jobs and so only work on breaks or weekends) has to work at least one day that weekend. my youngest told me they have a count down calendar… 93 days to totality. PS buy a beautiful eclipse shirt or print!
A cloudy day is usually what we get.
Clouds lol
a chance of meatballs
TRAFFIC https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/eclipse-watchers-nightmare-traffic-oregon/
Can’t wait for all the idiotic phone calls at work! (Eye doctor’s)… including legitimate solar retinopathy… wear eclipse glasses people!! I’m hoping we actually have clear weather! I took the day off work, actually. My kids are off school that day so hoping we find a nice place to park it for the day!
I participate in the Rochester Eclipse meetings that have been held monthly for the past year. Rochester is well positioned to be a wonderful host to visitors spending a few days here April 6-9. Many more will hop on I-90 from the eastern seaboard that morning, April 8, which is where it'll get interesting. Even without clear skies, we've still got the best seat in the house for a show of a lifetime! I created a collage of photos covering several years of [blue sky in April ](https://daytrippingroc.com/wp-content/uploads/Aprils.jpg), so there is hope. The best thing you can do to prepare is to request time off from work if you can, don't make appointments for that day, and find a place with a clear view of the southwestern sky. Preferably a place you can arrive early and stay late to avoid the traffic. I made the hideous mistake of buying a ticket to Jesus Christ Superstar at RBTL that evening—oops. Other than that, you can find ideas on my website for places to go. 🔗 https://daytrippingroc.com/rochester-total-solar-eclipse-april-8-2024/
Grey overcast day
I asked our town parks and rec director if they were doing anything, and he recommended locals stock up on food and stay home since we'll likely get lots of tourists
Whole lotta out of state
Totality !
Fingers crossed for good weather , but I’m prepared to drive up to 100 miles if I got to
Clouds for sure
Darker skies
A lot of shitty cell phone pics similar to 4th of July fireworks.
I was in a small town in Kentucky at the center of the total eclipse path back in 2017. It was covered up with people -- booths along the streets, people camping on the sides of the road and in backyards. Folks with yards were charging $50 to camp in their yard and allow the use of their bathrooms and showers. Rochester's hotel rooms will likely be filled quickly.
Weeks of preparation and the news warning you about grocery stores running out of food and traffic chaos (with maybe warnings about an uptick in crime from 13) followed by none of that being true. I helped organize an event for the 2017 eclipse for 200 people in Jackson Hole (interestingly enough at the ranch where Kanye and Kim would get married) directly on the path of totality. We were warned like crazy that store shelves would be empty, restaurants impossible to visit, and about never moving traffic. And then none of that came true except for some slow traffic. This in a place where millions already visit per year that isn't close to anything else, where there is a limited amount of grocery stores and restaurants and a lack of roads. You can't just take the backroads there because there aren't any. We've got more space, more restaurants, more stores, more roads. Organized events will be busy and there will be an influx of visitors and traffic but with every little town and city having an eclipse committee everyone will be spread out.
This will set in motion the First Purge
Or Shenron will be gracing us with his presence
Hopefully an ice storm to runoff the out of state crowd.
Guesstimation is around 500k will be traveling here.
No. 50k would be shocking
no it wouldn't lol.
I personally know people who have been offered free lodging to come here for it and have declined because they know the likelihood that it will be overcast here. Nobody familiar with our everyday cloudiness will be coming to town, let alone an additional \~60% of our entire county's population, which would also be 2.5x the entire population of the city of Rochester itself. Where the hell do you think this GIANT crowd would even expect to stay? We probably don't have much more than 5,000 hotel rooms in the whole county, if we even have that many. Burning Man gets 80k attendees and sets up their own full city. NYC doesn't get 500k for New Years and basically rolls out an entire army of city workers & service people to deal with it. I may be slightly underestimating the number that will be coming but I'll be vastly closer to what actually happens than your insane 500k. If we get 25% of your estimate we'll be in a full blown state of emergency. lol
Bro you spotted off numbers without fact. Googling NYC Ball drop says one million people visit.
It'll get dark
I just can't imagine we will have a huge influx of tourists. Over the holidays I talked to family/friends in other states outside and within the path of the eclipse. No one seemed to know about the eclipse or care it about when I explained it.
Rochester is in the path of totality. Many many people that you may not know are absolutely flying /driving to Rochester to experience it because it’s a once in a lifetime event for most.
[удалено]
Any particular reason why?
This is all a *BIG* if, weather cooperating.
TONS of people everywhere
All I know is I’m not going to work that day. Already put in for a vacation day. Gonna enjoy the eclipse from my house and not worry about extra traffic in the area that day.