Total solar eclipse coming in 2024

CAREY – A total solar eclipse will occur on Monday, April 8, 2024. At that time, parts of northwest Ohio will be plunged into darkness for two to four minutes with the event itself lasting 3½ hours from start to finish. Millions of tourists, however, from throughout the country and the world are expected to converge on the state that weekend, according to Anita Stechschulte, emergency management specialist for the Northwest Region of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. This will place extreme demands on the need for hotels and campgrounds, food and fuel. Even cell service could be impacted, she said. "I say T-minus 347 days, but I guarantee you when the 10-day (weather) forecast comes out, everything is going to shift for the better or the worse, so really we have 337 days," she said. Wyandot County, which has a normal population of just over 21,000 people, may see triple that number coming in to view the eclipse or about 65,000, said Stechschulte, a graduate of Carey High School, the University of Findlay and the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. She was the guest speaker for the 2023 Professional Women's Luncheon hosted by the Carey Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon blocks the sunlight from reaching earth, Stechschulte explained. "Generally when this happens, we see a partial eclipse. So that means the moon is further away from the earth and it causes a ring around the sun to still be visible," she said. But in this instance, there will be no light visible, she said. "We will be sitting in total and complete darkness." The last time this happened in Ohio was in 1806, she said. The next time will be 400 years from now in 2444. Stechschulte said the closest the area has come to a total eclipse in the recent past was in 2017 when it occurred in Bowling Green, Kentucky. "The 2017 eclipse came in in the Northwest United States and exited out in the Carolinas. This time the eclipse will begin in Texas and work its way through Ohio," she said. Once it crosses the Great Lakes, it will be going into parts of the country that are not easily accessible by car because of the heavily forested areas. And in April, many of these places are at high elevations which means the roads may be impassable due to snow. That makes Ohio a hotspot for people on the Eastern seaboard," she said. "About 70% of the country is accessible to Ohio within an eight-hour drive. So as I make some predictions on the amount of people that we are expecting to come into the area to view, I just want you to keep in mind, an eight-hour drive is not very taxing for many people," she said. The path of eclipse through Ohio will enter Darke County and continue through Auglaize, Shelby, Hardin, Wyandot, Seneca, Huron, Erie and Lorain counties, according to the Ohio Department of Education website. "The lake, which is where we are predicting a lot of people will go to view because, as we deal with Ohio weather, winds off the lake blow clouds away which may provide for a better opportunity for clear skies on the day of the eclipse," she said. At one time, said Stechschulte, the prime location to view the eclipse was in Forest, Ohio, where there is one gas station and one restaurant, and they produce 50,000 gallons of water a day. Initially, NASA, academia and other professionals were going to make its headquarters in the village. "NASA has somewhat rethought where they're going to go," she said. "They have not announced the "it" place, but I'm hearing rumors that it is not Forest." The next closest row of area counties north of the main line include Hancock, Putnam, Wood, Allen, Sandusky and Ottawa counties. Stechschulte said those counties are expected to see an increase of 1½ times the population. "So not only will that stress your local restaurants and safety services, but it's also going to stress infrastructure," she said. "Cell phone service will be limited if not incapacitated during this event. Your means of communication outside of the ham operated radio could be incapacitated." Planning becomes difficult because health care providers, safety services and food services are all dealing with the same thing at the same time, she said. Government agencies like the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, law enforcement, elected officials, first responders and business leaders have been meeting monthly for the past 1½ years to make plans and prepare, she noted. Most schools in the impacted area are closing or going virtual the day of the event, said Stechschulte, because totality here will hit right around 3 p.m. which would greatly impact school bus travel. "Additionally with the amount of traffic we're expecting with the mass exodus at the end of the event, what took a seven to eight hour drive to get in, in the last event took 17 to 24 hours. It was a complete gridlock of all traffic," she said. She said emergency health care is also a concern. In Putnam County, where she lives, there is no hospital. "We have a seven-bed, free-standing ER, so we are pulling in resources to bring a mobile hospital to our area," she said. "In Hardin County, they're looking at mobilizing one of the units from Wyandot Memorial." From a business and tourism perspective through, this is the time to host an event, she said. "Plan the parties, get the merchandise going," Stechschulte said. "There are ways for you to make this a tourism boom." She said the Ohio EMA has prepared a website at eclipse.ohio.gov to provide information and resources. Cassie Miller, executive director of the Carey Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber, the Wyandot Chamber of Commerce and the Wyandot County Visitors Bureau have created a website at WyandotCounty2024Eclipse.com to compile information for the county. In other news, chamber spotlight awards were presented to Laura Toland, director of the Dorcas Carey Public Library; and Becky Nye, manager of A-1 Printing, Upper Sandusky.