A Total Eclipse Will Sweep the U.S. in August, and People Are Going Nuts For It
By Laurel Wamsley/ The Two-Way:Breaking News from NPR/ National Public Radio/ npr.org
"On Monday, Aug. 21, a solar eclipse will be visible across America. The last time the contiguous United States saw a total eclipse
was 1979, and it will be the first coast-to-coast solar eclipse in 99 years, reports The Associated Press.
A partial eclipse will be visible throughout the United States,
according to NASA. But within a band that the agency is calling the "path of totality" stretching from Oregon to South Carolina, viewers will witness a total eclipse. And in many of those places, an eclipse industry is already booming.
The mayor of Hopkinsville, Ky., says his town has spent more than half a million dollars preparing for the event since learning 10 years ago that the area would be in the path of totality.
The town even has an eclipse coordinator.
"It'll look like twilight outside. You'll be able to see stars. Four planets will be visible — Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury. You'll notice the temperature drop about 5 to 10 degrees," the coordinator, Brooke Jung, told the AP. "You'll notice that animals will get a little disoriented. Birds will think that it's nighttime and go in to roost. Some of the flowers and plants that close up at night will close up."
"If it's cloudy, then we'll just have to deal with that reality as best we can and help people get to other locations," Mayor Carter Hendricks told the AP. "But, if somehow we overprepare and we're underwhelmed by the crowd size, that's a big concern for me."...."
A June ad for campsites in the small town of Madras, Ore., anticipates the influx of tourists expected in the prime viewing location for the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse.
Gillian Flaccus/AP
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