Governor Hochul Announces State Park Campground Accommodations For 2024 Solar Eclipse
Beginning the Week of July 3, 2023, Reservations Will Become Available at 335 Campsites at State Parks Across Eight Counties in New York
Path of Totality to Pass Through Western New York, Finger Lakes, Central New York, and Adirondacks
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that people who want to experience a rare total solar eclipse in April 2024 can stay at seven State Park campgrounds that will open for the event. The early opening will help accommodate an expected influx of visitors heading to several regions of the state to witness the celestial event.
Reservations will become available starting the week of July 3, 2023, from State Parks at a total of 335 campsites, cottages and cabins stretching across eight counties in western, central, and northern New York. The eclipse will trace a narrow path of totality across 15 U.S. states, including much of western and upstate New York.
The eclipse will begin in western New York shortly after 2:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Full totality will begin in Chautauqua County at 3:17 pm, moving through the state to Plattsburgh at 3:25 pm. Locations in the path of totality could experience total darkness for up to 4 minutes. The eclipse will then enter Canada in southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton.
The next total solar eclipse that will be visible from the contiguous U.S. will not be until August 2044. A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and earth, completely blocking the face of the sun. People viewing the eclipse from locations where the moon’s shadow completely covers the Sun – known as the path of totality – will experience a total solar eclipse. The sky will become dark, as if it were dawn or dusk. Weather permitting, people along the path of totality will see the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, which is usually obscured by the bright face of the sun.
Except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse, when the moon completely blocks the sun’s bright face, it is unsafe to look directly at the sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing. According to NASA, viewing any part of the sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury. The partial phases of the solar eclipse can only be safely observed directly with specialized solar viewing glasses (“eclipse glasses”) or a handheld solar viewer. Regular sunglasses, polarized or otherwise, are not a safe replacement for solar eclipse glasses.