Buffalo, New York – With the April 8th total solar eclipse only one month away, Mayor Byron W. Brown and members of the City’s Eclipse Task Force, along with representatives from partnering organizations and medical professionals, provided an update on the eclipse planning efforts to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all, including the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected to converge on the Buffalo area to view the event.

Mayor Brown said, “Four weeks from today, a total solar eclipse will darken the skies across Buffalo for nearly four minutes. While we want this once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event to be enjoyed, we are asking City residents today to take this rare event seriously, to plan ahead if you haven’t already, be patient and be prepared. With Buffalo so uniquely positioned to view this celestial event, people from around the country will be flocking here.
to see it for themselves. Public safety is our top priority, and we will be ready to ensure it will be a safe and enjoyable experience for all.” During the afternoon on April 8th, Buffalo will plunge into eclipse darkness for 3 minutes and 46 seconds as the moon passes between the sun and earth. Below is the eclipse timeline in Buffalo.

o Partial eclipse will begin at 2:04 p.m.
o Totality will begin at 3:18 p.m.
o Totality ends at 3:22 p.m.
o Totality lasts 3 minutes and 46 seconds

Buffalo is in the line of totality for the Monday, April 8th Solar Eclipse With one month to go before the big, once-in-a-lifetime event, the City of Buffalo’s Eclipse Task Force, in collaboration with partnering organizations, issued a reminder to residents to make sure
they protect their eyes when viewing the eclipse.
To stay best informed, City residents should text ECLIPSE to 38276. More eclipse information can be found on the City’s eclipse web page, www.buffalony.gov/eclipse.

o Partial Eclipse ends at 4:32 p.m.
o Overall eclipse duration: 2 hours 28 minutes; During totality, it will become dark even if cloudy.
With crowd estimates of “half-a-million” to a “million” converging on our area, City officials today asked residents to take this event seriously and prepare in advance, much like they would for a winter storm. They want everyone to enjoy this historic moment, but to do so in a smart and safe manner. Below are highlights of today’s eclipse update, beginning with the need for everyone to plan in advance and take the necessary
precautions, leading up to the event.

• Going to a grocery store, picking up a prescription, or going to the gas station might be virtually impossible on the day of the Eclipse. Officials recommended that people get those things done days in advance or reschedule appointments.
• City residents should plan for (and anticipate) heavy traffic congestion and possible gridlock on April 8th, potentially throughout the entire day and into the evening. Traffic congestion has been an issue at prior eclipse events.
• EMS services may be delayed. Make sure your loved ones have a sufficient quantity of medication on hand.
• City officials say the best place to view the eclipse is from home. There’s no need to travel or go to an elevated area. The eclipse will be viewable no matter where you are.
• If City residents plan to attend a viewing party, they urge people to attend one that is in walking distance. Whether it be at a park, at a restaurant or some other location – stay close to home and walk!
• If you need to drive to an event, like the Outer Harbor or Sahlen Field, the message is simple: Leave early and be prepared to stay late. There’s the potential for a long and slow drive home (much like winter storm traffic)! Pack extra food and water in your vehicle.
At today’s eclipse update, Dr. James D. Reynolds, professor and chair at The Ross Eye Institute, issued a reminder to people to make sure they protect their eyes when viewing the solar eclipse. He and other medical professionals say that the only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed Sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as “eclipse glasses”. Eclipse glasses are available through several.
organizations throughout Buffalo, including BuffaloEclipse.org. To business owners in the City of Buffalo, City officials strongly urged them to have a plan in place for their employees.
• Obviously this is a big event for Buffalo’s hospitality and tourism industry. With so many visitors expected, they want these dining and retail businesses to take advantage of this opportunity but to do so in a smart and safe way.
• To Buffalo’s non-dining and non-retail business owners, City officials asked them to consider having their employees work from home on Monday, April 8th, or close all together.
Additional information on how to safely view a Total Solar Eclipse in Buffalo can be found on the City’s eclipse webpage, www.buffalony.gov/eclipse. Previously announced eclipse updates included the following.
• Families are being encouraged to create a communication and an emergency plan (or meeting place), as cell
phone disruptions may occur on April 8th, meaning people might not have cell service at all for extensive
periods of time on that day. When there are too many people in an area, the cell towers get jammed.
For more information, go to https://www.ready.gov/plan or click here to Create. Your Family Emergency
Communication Plan (ready.gov).
• City parks will be open on April 8th but all pre-scheduled activities, (like spring sport practices on fields and
diamonds) will not be scheduled on that day. In the days leading up to the event.
• City crews will be putting up fencing at some City parks to prevent potential damage to the grass from
vehicles. Extra garbage and recycling totes will be placed in strategic locations to address potential littering.
• Sanitation will begin early on Monday, April 8th. If a resident’s garbage pickup day is on Monday in the City
of Buffalo, they should take their garbage and recycling totes to the curb on Sunday night.
• If an organization is planning to host a large-scale eclipse event on City-owned property (i.e. streets,
sidewalks, parks, etc.), they must complete a City of Buffalo Special Events application, a minimum of 30
days in advance. Click here to access the special events application. http://www.buffalony.gov/FormCenter/
SpecialEvents-10/Special-Events-Application-75.
Included on the City of Buffalo’s eclipse webpage is a link to the landing page for Visit Buffalo Niagara, which
is posting “All Things Eclipse”, along with highlights about the best things to do in the Buffalo regions. There
is also a calendar of publicly sanctioned events around the region. To add your event to this calendar, go
to https://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/buffalo-eclipse-2024/submit-an-event/. Find more information at
visitbuffaloniagara.com/buffalo-eclipse-2024/. The city eclipse webpage also includes a link to the “Buffalo Eclipse” site. That site was put together by the Buffalo Eclipse Consortium, another widely organized effort to help everyone enjoy this spectacular event in
Buffalo. For more information, visit BuffaloEclipse.org and NationalEclipse.com.

In addition to Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Rochester will also be in the path of totality, as will Watertown and Plattsburgh. Across the United States, notable cities in the path of totality include San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; and Burlington, Vermont