Solar eclipse dazzles across New York path of totality hotspots
NEW YORK -- New Yorkers gathered Monday to gaze in wonder as a rare total solar eclipse made its way across the Empire State.
The path of totality crossed a large swath of upstate New York, including Jamestown, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse, Watertown, Lake Placid and Plattsburgh.
In New York City, the eclipse blocked about 90% of the sun.
All across the state, throngs of onlookers paused to gather together, and look up. Viewings took place from natural wonders at Niagara Falls and Lake Placid to the center of Manhattan.
It marked the first time in nearly 100 years that New York had gotten a front-row seat to a total solar eclipse.
Emotional moments during solar eclipse totality
CBS New York's Kristine Johnson and Lonnie Quinn were both in the path of totality. The eclipse left them both speechless.
In Niagara Falls, the crowd started cheering as the sky darkened.
"It's like dawn right now. What a strange feeling this is," Johnson said. "This is such a magical moment. You feel it in every cell of your body because it's like somebody turned the lights out."
"You can feel the awesomeness of nature," one viewer in Niagara Falls said during the moment of totality. "Just feel, like, the connection of the whole universe, sort of."
"The feeling of -- out of nowhere it goes completely dark light this," one man said.
Johnson became emotional when the cloudy sky in Niagara Falls cleared for a moment and she could see the corona.
"I cannot believe we're seeing this right now. It has been cloud cover all day. How lucky are we?" Johnson said. "No way -- I can not tell you -- the timing of this is absolutely amazing. Look at this. You can see the corona! You can see the sparkling lights."
Johnson tried to find words to capture the moment.
"This is just ... I'm speechless. I'm absolutely speechless. And suddenly it's like somebody turned the lights back on. This is just amazing."
Johnson called the experience "absolutely amazing. It's very, very emotional, and I don't know why it's so emotional."
"What just happened in the last five minutes was life-changing. That's the only way that I can describe this," Johnson said. "We had such thick cloud cover before totality... we had complete cloud cover. It's like somebody turned off the lights, it got really dark, and then the thin whispers of clouds were able to show us full totality, and I have to say, it was quite something."
The eclipse impacted animals as well.
"The birds are flying every single direction you can think of right now. We can see them in the sky," Johnson said.
Quinn was in Lake Placid with his family, and was also left speechless by the experience. His daughter was moved to tears.
"This is amazing... Oh my God," Quinn said. "It is very emotional."
"I can't describe it. It was all cloud covered and then, just at the moment of totality, the clouds broke. We were able to see the corona around the sun. It was a life-changing experience," one person said.
Eclipse sends tourists flocking to New York state
Gov. Kathy Hochul said more than a million visitors flocked to the state from across the country to see the spectacle.
"People are coming from all over to celebrate and just be part of a common experience, something that people will talk about for years to come," Hochul said. "It's a time to celebrate, promote tourism. It's our third-largest industry -- thousands and thousands of jobs. From the people working in the little cafes, to the hotels, to the restaurants. They're all benefitting from this."
Hochul said the eclipse was a unifying experience.
"No matter what's your politics, what's your ethnicity, what part of the country you're from. Today we're just here as people who live on Earth," Hochul said. "People are just walking around smiling. I think that's what we've missed for a long time."
In Lake Placid, Quinn spoke with an excited eclipse viewer named Elizabeth, who said she's an intern at NASA and a Ph.D student at Stanford.
"I'm not really an astrophysicist, but I am so excited to be here. I'm so excited for the eclipse. The thing I'm most excited for is Bailey's Beads, which is right as the moon is about to cover the sun, you get these little - all the craters in the moon eclipse at different times, and it shows up like a string of beads at the edge of the sun, and I just think that's going to be so cool," she said. "I'm loving all this crowd energy. I think it's great... it's been awesome."
Infectious enthusiasm for solar eclipse in New York City
There were numerous watch parties throughout New York City, even though the Big Apple wasn't in the path of totality.
Thousands gathered on the lawn outside the New York Hall of Science in Queens. Some arrived before the moon did.
"I got here early to make sure I'm first in line," Brooklyn resident Frank Hislop said. "You don't want to miss it. Whatever happens in 20 years, is 20 years, but right now, I'm living for the moment."
Being a science museum, the event was centered around educating children.
"We made a model of the sun and the moon and the moon is blocking the sun," Manhattan resident Dylan Howard said.
"That's how we're really going to get people excited about science and STEM and all the possibilities of careers," Leeanne G-Bowley of the New York Hall of Science said.
After this experience, there may be some future scientists who shine. They not only learned about science, but also a lesson on patience.
"I thought it would be a little faster, to be honest," Astoria resident Elijah Alvarado said.
The next solar eclipse in New York state is in about 20 years.
For some, great meaning found in the eclipse
People who've enjoyed many trips around the sun found great meaning in Monday's eclipse.
At age 91, Mira Bramson has seen a lot, but she's never had the chance - or taken the time - to really soak up a solar eclipse.
"I have never seen anything like this before," she said.
Residents at United Hebrew of New Rochelle spent the day learning about the phenomenon, and then experiencing it for themselves.
"You're waiting years and years to see it. It's fantastic. It really is," resident Frank Marallo said.
Light cloud cover impacted the viewing, but didn't really interrupt the celestial spectacle. Large crowds gathered on New Rochelle rooftops - people unified in their wonder at the working of the solar system.
"I think people should be excited over things like this. Things that will bring us closer to each other," resident Frances DeFeis said.
As peak coverage approached, the birds stopped chirping, lights that activate at dusk suddenly illuminated, and eyes that have seen so much were grateful to have seen this.
"We as humans, scientists, cannot create something like this. Because you have to be in charge of the sky. We cannot be in charge of the sky, can we?" Bramson said.