Will Buffalo be a good place to see the total eclipse of the sun?

[Weave]

46 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Traffic was insane for the last eclipse. They are right to be warning people. I’d expect standstill for periods of time. 

 

Do people stop in the middle of the road and gawk?

[#freejame]

20 minutes ago, Weave said:

Do people stop in the middle of the road and gawk?

They certainly did on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I can’t speak to anywhere else. 

[DarthEbriate]

It would have been kind of fun to have the Sabres clinch a playoff spot the day before the eclipse.

[That Aud Smell]

19 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

It would have been kind of fun to have the Sabres clinch a playoff spot the day before the eclipse.

In the days to come, at least I have one of those events to look forward to in my lifetime.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

 

[Stoner]

Sabres making the playoffs... A sunny day in the lee of Lake Erie in early April.

Actually... Ten days out, the forecast is coagulating into something hopeful.

[SDS]

On 3/28/2024 at 8:46 AM, Weave said:

Do people stop in the middle of the road and gawk?

We went down to Columbus South Carolina to see it. It should have been, I believe, a one hour trip back to the airport. It was easily 4 1/2 hours before we pass the airport. We missed our flight and we decided to just drive back home.

[Stoner]

Just over a week out the forecast looks tantalizingly good for WNY WPA.

[Wyldnwoody44]

I was working up in Watertown this weekend and they are also expecting the frenzy as it's in the path of totality. 

They are planning on bussing thousands of people to the fairgrounds and having a festival for it. The county will basically be on shut down for this. Kids have no school as they fear the buses won't be able to go anywhere. 

Goona be wild. 

[ExWNYer]

On 3/25/2024 at 12:56 PM, GoPuckYourself said:

From what I’m reading, Buffalo will be right in the middle of the eclipse which is probably why every hotel in the area is booked up that day, again from what I read/ heard.

It was reported that the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is expecting a million people. To put that in perspective, Niagara Falls hosts 14 million visitors/tourists in an entire calendar year.

[Pimlach]

On 3/27/2024 at 10:19 PM, PASabreFan said:

I mean any place is a good place to see it as long as you're in the zone and you can see the sun.

Not everyplace has good wings, beef on weck, pizza - we are talking Sabres fans here.  

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, ExWNYer said:

It was reported that the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is expecting a million people. To put that in perspective, Niagara Falls hosts 14 million visitors/tourists in an entire calendar year.

I go to the Falls quite a bit, almost every summer, to both Canada and/or the US side.    Last year was the first time in decades that, on the Canadian side,  I went up the hill away from the Falls and into town.   What a mess of commercialization that place is.   We got out quick and went to Niagara on the Lake.  Great town.  Much nicer experience.  Love walking there and shopping, I bought another hat.   

[Pimlach]

I went to the last one in the St Louis area. It was fun.  We had a private party.   This one is also close by, the totality zone is a 1.5 hour drive. 

I think I want to avoid the crowds this time but wifey wants to venture out and be in it.   Ugh.  

There is nothing I can say, a total eclipse of the ... 

[ExWNYer]

I wanted to drive up to my aunt and uncle's place in Jamestown to watch it but we already had long-standing plans and will be driving back home to Virginia from North Carolina on Monday, the 8th.

Edited April 1 by ExWNYer

[Stoner]

NWS Buffalo:

While beyond our normal 7-day forecast...The highly anticipated 2024 Solar Eclipse will occur Monday, April 8th in the afternoon. Model and ensemble guidance continue to suggest dry weather for Monday with high pressure surface and aloft over the eastern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, however it is FAR too early to forecast cloud cover with any confidence or reliability.

[Big Guava]

Supposed to be over a million people here to watch it...essentially for a few days our Population will double in size 

[Stoner]

NT mentioned it's clear in WNY. My part of PA is socked in by clouds. I think this phenomenon is what I was asking about in the initial post...

[Weave]

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

NT mentioned it's clear in WNY. My part of PA is socked in by clouds. I think this phenomenon is what I was asking about in the initial post...

Today’s forecast from Buffalo NWS does call for a lake breeze line to set up south of the two lakes, so yes this is what you are seeing on that radar image.

[That Aud Smell]

34 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

NT mentioned it's clear in WNY. My part of PA is socked in by clouds. I think this phenomenon is what I was asking about in the initial post...

Lake Erie is generally a wonderful thing to have on our doorsteps. But even with model forecasts now all agreeing that there will be a ridge of high pressure in place for our region on April 8th (seems like good news!), that great lake still has the power to manufacture clouds.

Years ago, I had regular opportunities to make proverbial small talk (the weather!) with a group of people who'd transplanted to Buffalo from different parts of America, different parts of the world. They were all doing graduate work at UB. The two things that they griped about most regarding Buffalo's weather: (1) how humidity made cold temps more difficult to endure (something I'd never realized was the case) and (2) how frequently our region gets clouds that don't do anything (i.e., rain or snow). As to the latter, these folks would regularly say:  Where I come from, cloudy skies generally mean that you're getting some weather. But not so here. (I was also struck by how they didn't complain about the snow.)

[#freejame]

I think I’m actually more excited for the eclipse this year than in 2017. I bought my family matching t-shirts the other day from Oxford pennant  

[That Aud Smell]

From the local NWS office's "forecast discussion":

While beyond our normal 7-day forecast...The highly anticipated 2024 Solar Eclipse will occur Monday, April 8th in the afternoon. Model and ensemble guidance continue to suggest dry weather for Monday with high pressure surface and aloft over the eastern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, however it is FAR too early to forecast cloud cover with any confidence or reliability.

[Stoner]

14 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

From the local NWS office's "forecast discussion":

While beyond our normal 7-day forecast...The highly anticipated 2024 Solar Eclipse will occur Monday, April 8th in the afternoon. Model and ensemble guidance continue to suggest dry weather for Monday with high pressure surface and aloft over the eastern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, however it is FAR too early to forecast cloud cover with any confidence or reliability.

You just don't listen to me anymore.

[That Aud Smell]

6 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

You just don't listen to me anymore.

gah. sorry.

[LabattBlue]

I know it is a once in a 100 years event, but all these viewing parties, stores closing, schools shutdown, daily non-stop talk about it on the news…can’t wait for it to be over. 
 

I will be standing in my backyard, or even just watching through my living room patio door.  Woohoo…it will go from light to dark to light, kind of like what it does every day. 

[Stoner]

5 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

I know it is a once in a 100 years event, but all these viewing parties, stores closing, schools shutdown, daily non-stop talk about it on the news…can’t wait for it to be over. 
 

I will be standing in my backyard, or even just watching through my living room patio door.  Woohoo…it will go from light to dark to light, kind of like what it does every day. 

It's like a Sabres game. What happens on the ice usually takes a back seat to maybe my urchin will be on the video board.