So How Many People Came To Western New York For The Eclipse?
The once-in-a-lifetime event that Buffalo and Western New York have come and gone. Even though the skies were cloudy and overcast in most of the region, if you ask anyone who saw (or tried to see) the eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024, they were left in awe, with many feeling inspired.
Various officials from Western New York were expecting more than 1 million people to travel to the 716 to watch the eclipse. With Buffalo and Niagara Falls being right along the line of totality, this was the perfect opportunity for Western New York to show everyone why Buffalo doesn't need to be kept a secret anymore.
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But did a million people travel to the 716? If yes, where did they all go? If not, then how many people were there?
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If you ask anyone out and about on eclipse day, they will tell you that traffic was pretty light for most of the day. Even as I was driving into and out of downtown Buffalo on Monday, April 8th, there was very little traffic on the roads.
According to the Buffalo News, even though places like Niagara Falls State Park saw tens of thousands of people on-site to watch the eclipse, nowhere near 1 million people traveled to the 716 to watch the eclipse.
As it became clear from the weather predictions that Buffalo would be overcast and that there was a large chance that most of the region would not have a clear view of the sun, it appears that many people changed their plans to head to Buffalo and Western New York.
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The final estimates of how many people came to town are still being tabulated. Still, something to consider is there are only around 10,000 hotel rooms available in western New York at any given time.
While plenty of people traveled from around the world, I met folks from San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, and even Sweden while downtown; it's pretty evident that there were not more than 1 million people who ventured into the 716.
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Hopefully, we'll have much better weather when the next eclipse passes over the Empire State, which isn't set to happen until May 1, 2079. If you're around in 55 years, let us know how it goes.
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