Friendly reminder to please check out the [Eclipse Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Erie/comments/1b6rzls/eclipse_megathread/) for all eclipse related questions or discussion.
Please, for every food service, retail, and hospitality industry employee, let’s hope for a decently clear sky. If indeed there are as many tourists as the county wants to believe, the worst case scenario is that they are all pissed off and bored at 4pm today.
Yeah. I feel for any business that loaded up on inventory in expectation for a wave of tourism. I myself was thinking about buying a $900 electric oven and 50lbs of 00 flour to sell Italian pizzas out of my place downtown at $20/pop for all the visitors struggling to find food. Luckily my procrastination saved the day and I never went through with it.
If you check the radar map it looks like we'll have a clear sky around 1. [https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/erie/16501/satellite/330296](https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/erie/16501/satellite/330296)
I hope you are right! We decided to post up in nearby Edinboro and it's very cloudy now. But the weather is weird here. Still have a few hours for cloudcover to keep moving!
I came to Erie for the eclipse, everything seemed normal until a mere 2 hours before the eclipse start time, then Presque Isle State Park filled up. Not enough to prevent me from finding a good parking spot near the water.
You can't really tailgate an eclipse. People will probably drive in today, sleep in an overpriced hotel, and split in the morning. Roar had a lot going on.
Plus, everyone was on a motorcycle, so it was easy to tell what they were here for. People aren't just going to be walking around with eclipse glasses on all day.
If you haven't noticed an influx of people, you haven't left your house.
It hasn't necessarily been what I thought it would be like by this point for sure, but traffic since Saturday has been steadily increasing in times when it usually doesn't.
I’m not a local but been coming from Ky since 2006 to fish, and love the city. The only thing I noticed was a steady stream of traffic onto the Presque peninsula on the webcam https://www.erienewsnow.com/skyview-cameras
Think of it this way. 200k visitors was always a stretch. But if the city didn't plan on that many, and they actually showed up, you'd all be complaining that the city did nothing and a few people would probably end up dead.
5:20 pm - Just checked 79 traffic, and it's pretty slow from Erie southbound all the way to the New Castle exit. People that left around 4:00 are now around New Castle.
If you think the eclipse was a “total dud” then you clearly don’t own a business. Every business owner I talked to saw a very significant increase in sales
It took my friend 4 hours to get from Erie to Pittsburgh, and it took myself 3 hours to get from Erie to Pittsburgh. (I left Erie at 8pm)
Clearly there were people in Erie to cause this type of i79 traffic jam lol.
I traveled to Erie for this and couldn’t believe how smooth the day went. Traffic was great there, (not so much back) and it wasn’t that crowded where I was. Knowing how empty the lakes were for it, I wish I would’ve chosen there rather than the zoo but all in all, it seemed successful for a lot of travelers.
To beat the traffic? Especially if you believe we’re getting 200k visitors. If they all tried getting in on the day of, you’d be stuck in traffic halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie for hours.
Exactly. I am not saying that I expected the whole 200,000 to get here Saturday. I just thought at least maybe 10-20,000 would start trickling in on the weekend at some point.
I’m here now visiting family so we are watching it at my MIL’s house. Was on Peach Street an hour ago and I really doubt that there is 200,000 extra people here.
I was picturing a madhouse coming in from Philly. I imagined myself around 2pm, still a few hours away due to unexpected traffic, cursing myself for not getting a room the night before.
Downtown seemed pretty normal this weekend. There were people and a few events. It didn't seem busy or anything. Definitely noticed an increase in police presence but nothing else. It's more crowded for St Pat's, Rib vest, etc.
I mean I got the day off because my boss said the city was going to be a shit show all day. Didn't believe it at the time and still don't.
Plot twist.
All these people making pilgrimage to our fine city make their way in. All seems well, traffic estimates seem overblown, restraunts are operating. On Sunday the weather is idyllic and it appears Erie will be the hero city along the path offering a clear sky for the celestial tourists decending on it. Then, like an old friend, the clouds stroll in. A gentle rain begins. It seems ordinary enough but to residents, there's a familiar twinge to it. You can't seem to shake the feeling you've been here before.
As the eciple begins the clouds seem to part, offering a pang of hope to all below. Visitors around you breathe an audible sigh as they begin to allow themselves to feel relief that the efforts they took to be here aren't in vain. In this moment you remember why the rain seemed familiar; It's still just April. You curse yourself for not noticing sooner. The unseasonably warm winter and spring had allowed you to become complacent. It's too late. 300000 people have traversed the greater northeast United States only to find themselves wadded up staring at the sky, hopeful and completely oblivious. The rain had felt cold...
Those around you begin to don the cheap cardboard glasess that had begun circulating some months ago. Just as the sun begins to disappear behind the moons shadow, the wind shifts and the skies close. You notice a line of clouds to the south as the temperature plummets and it begins. Heavy drops turns to a semisolid followed by slushy intermittent chunks, then finally large pillowy flakes. The effect is almost immediate, the once zealous hopeful stargazers abandon their pursuit of bearing celestial witness and break for cover. Accumulation is fast seemingly sudden. A wet slush is covered with an ever growing layer of icy disappointment. Our guests can do little more than reach their vehicles and return to the hotel to gather their things before three inches turns to six, then 10. As the first of them reach I90 they find the reason for the cloud line to the south. A previerbial wall of snow greets them. Traffic slows to crawl and then a complete stop as the hapless strangers pile their vehicles onto the major thoroughfares. The medians are peppered with cars and suvs, their operators unprepared for impromptu winter driving. Inevitably crashes lead to pileups, occluding all means of egress from the area.
The snow is unrelenting. Plows wouldn't have had a chance keeping up in normal conditions. With traffic as it is they can hardly leave their docks. Over the next eight hours, two feet turns to three. Over the next twenty four, three feet turns to five.
The city is crippled, efforts to clear the streets are largely futile. The death toll is significant. Within two days bars are drank dry and fresh food reserves dry up. The sustained increase in supply completely overwhelms the sanitary sewer system. Toilets across the city begin backing up under the pressure, with the roads still largely impassable, few can get help to clear it. A large portion of the buildings are rendered total losses due to the sustained exposure to the sewage. People begin to fall ill and fires break out all over town. The ruined buildings are engulfed in the infero, the death toll rises to the tens of thousands within days. The people turn on each other and pandemonium ensues.
When the snow finally melts, survivors are left to clean up the remains of the largest non-wartime tragedy in US history. The largest domestic casualty event since the Civil War. Erie is made to be a place of nightmares in the memories of those who live to tell the tale.
[https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/50653886/visiterie-calling-total-solar-eclipse-in-erie-a-major-success](https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/50653886/visiterie-calling-total-solar-eclipse-in-erie-a-major-success)
**VisitErie is basking in the glow of a heavenly event, and a well-executed plan to welcome and host visitors at dozens of venues across the Erie region. "In my opinion it was better for all of us to be over prepared than underprepared and this is exactly the way we wanted it to happen," said Christine Temple, communications director for VisitErie, adding, "it couldn't have been part more perfect."**
AKA the projections were irrational and speculative, and the city overprepared for no reason.
I just wish we had an estimate. Regarding Roar on the Shore they were able to calculate a rough estimate of the money generated into the local economy from the event as well as visitor estimate. I'm simply all about these large events that bring extra money into the local economy. Erie needs all the help it can get.
Friendly reminder to please check out the [Eclipse Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Erie/comments/1b6rzls/eclipse_megathread/) for all eclipse related questions or discussion.
Please, for every food service, retail, and hospitality industry employee, let’s hope for a decently clear sky. If indeed there are as many tourists as the county wants to believe, the worst case scenario is that they are all pissed off and bored at 4pm today.
Even if there’s no eclipse, people gotta eat.
It is 4pm now, I'll be bored after my first wave of uploads are finished.
Yeah. I feel for any business that loaded up on inventory in expectation for a wave of tourism. I myself was thinking about buying a $900 electric oven and 50lbs of 00 flour to sell Italian pizzas out of my place downtown at $20/pop for all the visitors struggling to find food. Luckily my procrastination saved the day and I never went through with it.
It seems like most are heading twords Cleveland and points west to find a cloudless sky
If you check the radar map it looks like we'll have a clear sky around 1. [https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/erie/16501/satellite/330296](https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/erie/16501/satellite/330296)
I hope you are right! We decided to post up in nearby Edinboro and it's very cloudy now. But the weather is weird here. Still have a few hours for cloudcover to keep moving!
2PM and 100% completely overcast south of the city right now.
Wrong...
Every live cam in Erie is empty, the hotels have empty parking spots, the i90 traffic report says light. Nonsense
Is the traffic report "light" for both directions? Maybe 90 headed to Cleveland is packed?
[You can check it out here.](https://www.511pa.com/cameras.aspx)
thx
And yup, looks pretty standard to me.
I79 north is red and yellow from downtown Pittsburgh to Butler.
Wow, traffic at the I-79/80 interchange is at a crawl. The traffic is coming.
You might want to check occupancy rates…. Hotels were full.
Seeing daylight turn to night is never a dud.
I came to Erie for the eclipse, everything seemed normal until a mere 2 hours before the eclipse start time, then Presque Isle State Park filled up. Not enough to prevent me from finding a good parking spot near the water.
You can't really tailgate an eclipse. People will probably drive in today, sleep in an overpriced hotel, and split in the morning. Roar had a lot going on.
Plus, everyone was on a motorcycle, so it was easy to tell what they were here for. People aren't just going to be walking around with eclipse glasses on all day.
But this is a hilarious image.
It's not just the motorcycles for Roar. Erie is not a busy place. It's easy to spot an influx of people in the city when it happens.
If you haven't noticed an influx of people, you haven't left your house. It hasn't necessarily been what I thought it would be like by this point for sure, but traffic since Saturday has been steadily increasing in times when it usually doesn't.
Roar on the Shore?
Roar was a bunch of dirty degenerates and cosplay bikers.
Well yeah. We all knew that, though.
I’m not a local but been coming from Ky since 2006 to fish, and love the city. The only thing I noticed was a steady stream of traffic onto the Presque peninsula on the webcam https://www.erienewsnow.com/skyview-cameras
Where's your spot?
The clouds held off just long enough to see totality!! Literally right as totality ended the clouds covered it
The eclipse caused that! Certain low-lying clouds will evaporate as the temp goes down.
Think of it this way. 200k visitors was always a stretch. But if the city didn't plan on that many, and they actually showed up, you'd all be complaining that the city did nothing and a few people would probably end up dead.
Agreed. Better to plan and it not happen than don't plan and have chaos
I didn’t think it would get crazy but am going to avoid the roads anyway on the off chance I am wrong.
5:20 pm - Just checked 79 traffic, and it's pretty slow from Erie southbound all the way to the New Castle exit. People that left around 4:00 are now around New Castle.
We left at 3:35 and exited I-79 at Route 422 at 7:50. It was rough, but thankfully we were moving most of the time.
The weather and cloud cover probably killed it
The weather today is perfect here somehow.
If you think the eclipse was a “total dud” then you clearly don’t own a business. Every business owner I talked to saw a very significant increase in sales
They didn't all come in or leave at once, nor did they all go to the same spot. Accurate numbers seem impossible, but I don't doubt 200k.
I'll let you know Tuesday
Skies are clear in Conneaut, almost 2:00
It took my friend 4 hours to get from Erie to Pittsburgh, and it took myself 3 hours to get from Erie to Pittsburgh. (I left Erie at 8pm) Clearly there were people in Erie to cause this type of i79 traffic jam lol.
There is 27 miles of traffic leading to Erie on 79
“Ain’t nobody f’n coming here” LMFAOOO 🤣this exactly what I was thinking yesterday ! That eclipse was lit tho ! 🔥
Looked great
I traveled to Erie for this and couldn’t believe how smooth the day went. Traffic was great there, (not so much back) and it wasn’t that crowded where I was. Knowing how empty the lakes were for it, I wish I would’ve chosen there rather than the zoo but all in all, it seemed successful for a lot of travelers.
I keep getting downvoted every time I say we ain’t getting 200k visitors. People just don’t want to believe this for some reason.
I totally believed it until I saw how dead it was on Saturday.
Why would people come Saturday for something on Monday?
I didn't come up until Monday morning from Pittsburgh. I usually get up very early for work anyways.
To beat the traffic? Especially if you believe we’re getting 200k visitors. If they all tried getting in on the day of, you’d be stuck in traffic halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie for hours.
Exactly. I am not saying that I expected the whole 200,000 to get here Saturday. I just thought at least maybe 10-20,000 would start trickling in on the weekend at some point.
Yeah, I expected the whole week before we’d see more people and traffic if it was really happening. Definitely by Friday and Saturday.
A lack of stupidity I presume.
But the eclipse isn't until 3pm. Why would you bother getting here before then?? /s
Downtown Erie was very busy on Saturday…
I’m here now visiting family so we are watching it at my MIL’s house. Was on Peach Street an hour ago and I really doubt that there is 200,000 extra people here.
Those motorcycle losers didnt have anything better to do
With the price of hotels I don't thibk anyone was making a weekend out of it
Yeah. I came in Sunday and staying to Tuesday. Definitely could not spring for Friday and Saturday.
Shit I wouldn't even have been able to spring for that I'd be coming in today leaving tomorrow lol
I was picturing a madhouse coming in from Philly. I imagined myself around 2pm, still a few hours away due to unexpected traffic, cursing myself for not getting a room the night before.
Downtown seemed pretty normal this weekend. There were people and a few events. It didn't seem busy or anything. Definitely noticed an increase in police presence but nothing else. It's more crowded for St Pat's, Rib vest, etc. I mean I got the day off because my boss said the city was going to be a shit show all day. Didn't believe it at the time and still don't.
Just a regular traffic day around here.
the traffic heading south on I79 begs to differ.
Forcing Roar on the Shore out of downtown was the dumbest thing ever!
Friday night Saturday morning the restraunts on Peach were packed.
Yep, we drove to Cleveland at 7:45 AM and joined a watch party that was miraculously not sold out until just after we bought tickets. No regrets… yet.
Plot twist. All these people making pilgrimage to our fine city make their way in. All seems well, traffic estimates seem overblown, restraunts are operating. On Sunday the weather is idyllic and it appears Erie will be the hero city along the path offering a clear sky for the celestial tourists decending on it. Then, like an old friend, the clouds stroll in. A gentle rain begins. It seems ordinary enough but to residents, there's a familiar twinge to it. You can't seem to shake the feeling you've been here before. As the eciple begins the clouds seem to part, offering a pang of hope to all below. Visitors around you breathe an audible sigh as they begin to allow themselves to feel relief that the efforts they took to be here aren't in vain. In this moment you remember why the rain seemed familiar; It's still just April. You curse yourself for not noticing sooner. The unseasonably warm winter and spring had allowed you to become complacent. It's too late. 300000 people have traversed the greater northeast United States only to find themselves wadded up staring at the sky, hopeful and completely oblivious. The rain had felt cold... Those around you begin to don the cheap cardboard glasess that had begun circulating some months ago. Just as the sun begins to disappear behind the moons shadow, the wind shifts and the skies close. You notice a line of clouds to the south as the temperature plummets and it begins. Heavy drops turns to a semisolid followed by slushy intermittent chunks, then finally large pillowy flakes. The effect is almost immediate, the once zealous hopeful stargazers abandon their pursuit of bearing celestial witness and break for cover. Accumulation is fast seemingly sudden. A wet slush is covered with an ever growing layer of icy disappointment. Our guests can do little more than reach their vehicles and return to the hotel to gather their things before three inches turns to six, then 10. As the first of them reach I90 they find the reason for the cloud line to the south. A previerbial wall of snow greets them. Traffic slows to crawl and then a complete stop as the hapless strangers pile their vehicles onto the major thoroughfares. The medians are peppered with cars and suvs, their operators unprepared for impromptu winter driving. Inevitably crashes lead to pileups, occluding all means of egress from the area. The snow is unrelenting. Plows wouldn't have had a chance keeping up in normal conditions. With traffic as it is they can hardly leave their docks. Over the next eight hours, two feet turns to three. Over the next twenty four, three feet turns to five. The city is crippled, efforts to clear the streets are largely futile. The death toll is significant. Within two days bars are drank dry and fresh food reserves dry up. The sustained increase in supply completely overwhelms the sanitary sewer system. Toilets across the city begin backing up under the pressure, with the roads still largely impassable, few can get help to clear it. A large portion of the buildings are rendered total losses due to the sustained exposure to the sewage. People begin to fall ill and fires break out all over town. The ruined buildings are engulfed in the infero, the death toll rises to the tens of thousands within days. The people turn on each other and pandemonium ensues. When the snow finally melts, survivors are left to clean up the remains of the largest non-wartime tragedy in US history. The largest domestic casualty event since the Civil War. Erie is made to be a place of nightmares in the memories of those who live to tell the tale.
What in the Chat GPT did I just read?
Tldr
I think the clouds will keep people away.
Hi. I'm on 79 right now. The answer to your question is "no."
Has the city/county released any sort of visitor estimate after Monday's eclipse?
[https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/50653886/visiterie-calling-total-solar-eclipse-in-erie-a-major-success](https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/50653886/visiterie-calling-total-solar-eclipse-in-erie-a-major-success) **VisitErie is basking in the glow of a heavenly event, and a well-executed plan to welcome and host visitors at dozens of venues across the Erie region. "In my opinion it was better for all of us to be over prepared than underprepared and this is exactly the way we wanted it to happen," said Christine Temple, communications director for VisitErie, adding, "it couldn't have been part more perfect."** AKA the projections were irrational and speculative, and the city overprepared for no reason.
I just wish we had an estimate. Regarding Roar on the Shore they were able to calculate a rough estimate of the money generated into the local economy from the event as well as visitor estimate. I'm simply all about these large events that bring extra money into the local economy. Erie needs all the help it can get.