As the Highland Lakes prepares for prime viewing of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse traveling from Mexico to Maine, local businesses and entities may find it an economic boon as communities and even states reported big benefits from the Aug. 21, 2017, event, which crossed from Oregon to South Carolina. Staff photo by Daniel Clifton
Highland Lakes best place to view 2024 total eclipse
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area will be the best place to watch the next total eclipse of
the sun — a phenomenon that happens only every 100 years or so. The next one will begin at approximately 1:33:22 p.m. April 8, 2024, and last for 4 minutes and 26 seconds.
Yes, that’s four years away, but it never hurts to get an early start planning, especially when Enchanted Rock is your destination. Reservations are always necessary at the popular park, which often fills up to capacity with campers and day trippers.
Although the last total eclipse occurred
Aug. 21, 2017, the one before it was almost a 100 years ago.
For this next eclipse, Texas in general will be the best state to catch it. The peak will occur near Nazas, Durango, in Mexico.
In a solar eclipse, the moon crosses between the earth and sun. During a total eclipse, the moon will actually block the sun for a short period of time. The total eclipse is
visible [with eye protection] in a swath of area about 63 miles wide along the path of the event.
The solar eclipse will enter Texas near Del Rio and cross northeast.
Other communities across the Highland Lakes due for great views are Lake Buchanan, Marble Falls, Llano, and Burnet. Lake Buchanan’s prime viewing begins at approximately 1:34:39 p.m. Marble Falls, Llano, and Burnet will begin experiencing totality at about the same time, though the duration will be about 7
seconds longer for Burnet and Llano: about 4 minutes and 21 seconds, due to their locations nearer the centerline.
The total eclipse won’t be just a celestial phenomenon; it could be an economic one as well.
During the Aug. 21, 2017, eclipse, states and cities along the path recorded big bumps in their economies.
The state of Wyoming reported the total solar eclipse brought about 192,000 people into the state and 69,000 residents traveling for a better view of it.
This pumped in roughly $63.5 million into the Wyoming economy.
That sounds like a lot but pales in comparison to the effect it had on South Carolina’s economy. The state reported the 2017 total solar eclipse poured $269 million into the economy, with more than 1.6 million people traveling to or around South Carolina to get a view.
Ravenna, Nebraska, a town of 1,300 residents, welcomed about 40,000 visitors for the 2017 eclipse. All this meant big business for the local
economies.
The Highland Lakes, with its proximity to Austin, San Antonio, and even Houston, could also reap economic benefits from the coming eclipse. The 2024 eclipse could have people and economies looking up.
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ACROSS AMERICA — It won’t happen for another couple of years, but it’s not too soon to plan for the 2024 total solar eclipse that will darken the sun for a few minutes in more than a dozen states exactly one year from Friday.
So mark this date — Monday, April 8, 2024 — on your calendar, especially if you’re among about 32 million people Forbes estimates live in the path of 100 percent totality. That’s portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Maine, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
A total solar eclipse takes place when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun. Areas farther away from the path of totality will see a less-dramatic blockage of the sun.
Find out what's happening in Across Americawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The upcoming event is dubbed the Great North American Eclipse, a riff off the 2017 Great American Eclipse in which Americans from one coast to the other basked in the subdued sunlight with picnics, watch parties and even solar eclipse weddings. To show how frenzied the run-up was, 1970s Welsh pop star Bonnie Tyler reprised her “Total Eclipse of the Sun” at the exact the moment the sun fell under the moon’s shadow on a cruise ship in the Caribbean.
You get the idea. This is going to be epic.
Find out what's happening in Across Americawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Here are five things to know about the 2024 eclipse:
1. More People Will Experience Totality
The 2017 eclipse was legitimately the star party of a lifetime because it plunged parts of each of the lower 48 states in at least partial daytime darkness. The 2024 eclipse could be more dramatic because the number of people in the path of totality is more than double the 12.25 million people in the path of totality in 2017.
“The path of the 2024 eclipse across North America is exciting,” Gordon Telepun, an expert eclipse photographer, told AccuWeather. “It crosses more large cities than the 2017 path.”
Some of those include:
- Dallas, Texas
- Austin, Texas
- Little Rock, Arkansas
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Cleveland, Ohio,
- Dayton, Ohio
- Buffalo, New York
- Burlington, Vermont
- Montreal, Quebec
Also, major cities such as San Antonio, Texas, St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit and Pittsburgh are just a short drive away from the path of totality, AccuWeather points out.
3. The 2024 Eclipse May, Ahem, Eclipse 2017
At 120 miles wide as totality starts and 100 miles as it departs, the 2024 eclipse will be almost twice as wide as the 2017 eclipse, which was between 60 and 70 miles wide, according to Forbes.
- You May Also Like: 2022 Guide To Meteor Showers, Supermoons, Lunar Eclipse
It will also last longer. The maximum totality in 2017 was 2 minutes and 41 seconds in Curulean, Kentucky. In 2024, people watching the eclipse from Eagle Pass, Texas, located along the U.S.-Mexico border, will experience 4 minutes and 26 seconds of totality.
3. It Won’t Happen Again Soon
In the United States, April 8, 2024, will be the last chance to see a total solar eclipse until Aug. 22, 2044. It will occur in a sparsely populated area of the country in Montana and the Dakotas.
A year later, on Aug. 12, 2045, people from California to Florida will be in the path of totality.
4. Moon Shadow Chasers Should Prepare Now
Again, the eclipse is two years away. But if the nation’s supply chain woes have proved anything, it’s that things you thought you could count on picking up relatively easily suddenly become as hard to find as toilet paper was at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Add to that the difficulty in finding eclipse glasses in 2017. You shouldn’t wait too long to procure the protective eyewear if you’re planning to chase the moon’s shadow. The American Astronomical Society has a list of vendors whose eclipse glasses have been certified as safe.
Solar eclipse tourism proved to be a huge revenue boost in areas located in the path of totality in 2017, bringing in millions of dollars for travel, lodging, food and shopping during the days leading up to the eclipse. And like solar glasses, hotel rooms went fast in 2017 and likely will so again.
Several travel groups and online booking sites offer solar eclipse tours. As with any online site, vet it before you book.
5. Total Eclipses Aren’t That Rare
Solar eclipses occur about once every 18 months, and they’re visible from at least some place on Earth. But it would take a millennium for every geographic location in the continental U.S. to see the phenomenon, according to NASA.
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