Visitors from Europe, New Zealand expected in North Texas for total solar eclipse

People from as far away as Paris and New Zealand are reportedly planning to watch the eclipse in north Texas.

But imagine making that journey all for nothing if the weather gets in the way.

Amanda Wintcher is traveling from England to Dallas with her husband for the event. When asked what she’d do if the weather was cloudy on Monday, she replied, “Probably just complain about it the next couple of years like we did in the 2017 eclipse.”

She’s talking about the 2017 total solar eclipse when clouds blocked Wincher’s view in Missouri.

Now, a chance at redemption.

“Every time the subject of eclipse comes up, we think grrr,” Wincher explained.

Wintcher and her family are among as many as 200,000 people planning to watch the eclipse in Ellis County, an area in the path of totality.

Tuesday, the county’s emergency management coordinator said nearly two dozen ambulances will be strategically placed.

“Our biggest concern is traffic, and also the response with medical. If streets are congested and stuff like that, how are ambulances going to respond to that?” said Michaela Sandefer, Ellis Co. Emergency Management Coordinator.

In Dallas alone, an additional 400,000 visitors are expected.

“Make a plan now for what you’re going to do Monday,” said Travis Houston, Director of the Dallas Office of Emergency Management.

All available police officers will be on hand to help with crowd control and traffic once it’s over.

Officials stress not to stop on the road to watch the eclipse and if you can watch close to home, relatively speaking for people from across the pond.

“You hear all these cool things about the ring of fire and the 360 sunsets and all this kind of stuff, so hopefully, it’ll be good,” said Winter.

A solar eclipse will occur over North Texas for several hours on April 8, 2024. The partial eclipse will begin at 12:23 p.m. and end at 3:02 p.m. Totality will last only minutes, from about 1:40 p.m. until 1:44 p.m., depending on location. The event is truly a rare occasion. Another total solar eclipse won’t occur over the United States until 2044 and the National Weather Service says there won’t be another in our region until 2317.

MAP OF SOLAR ECLIPSE PATH

LOOKING AT THE ECLIPSE? USE PROPER EYE PROTECTION!

Anyone looking at the solar eclipse on April 8 should view the partial eclipse ONLY with proper eye protection.

Looking at the sun during a partial eclipse can lead to solar retinopathy, a condition that occurs when someone looks directly at the sun and damages the back of the eye or the retina. The damage from solar retinopathy can be permanent and lead to an overall reduction in the sharpness of a person’s vision.

Sunglasses don’t offer enough protection. Solar glasses meeting the ISO 12312-2 international standard are thousands of times darker than sunglasses.

Astronomer Rick Fienberg told NBC 5 Responds that simply looking for a product with the ISO designation printed on the product isn’t enough because anyone can print that number on a pair of glasses. Fienberg is a volunteer with the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Eclipse Task Force and maintains this list of suppliers and distributors of solar viewing glasses and equipment.

Plan ahead, but if you can’t find enough eclipse viewers for each person in your family then make plans to share.

If you have eclipse glasses from a previous eclipse, look them over to make sure the filters are not torn, scratched, or punctured. If filters are coming loose from their cardboard or plastic frames, don’t use them.

If you don’t have glasses or equipment, there are indirect ways to view the eclipse. Check out this page for instructions.

Once in totality, it’s safe to look at the moon and corona without special glasses but ONLY while the moon completely covers the sun.