A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and Earth, casting a shadow upon our planet and momentarily obscuring the Sun’s light. New York State, with its significant geographic span, has a varied history regarding the visibility of these phenomena. While partial eclipses are relatively common, the narrow path necessary for a total eclipse is a much rarer occurrence in any specific region. Understanding the exact location of these historical paths helps clarify which parts of the state have truly experienced totality.
The April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
The last total solar eclipse to cross New York State occurred on April 8, 2024. The Moon’s shadow, known as the path of totality, entered New York from the southwest over Lake Erie, beginning its traverse around 3:16 p.m. EDT. This path of complete darkness was approximately 100 miles wide and cut diagonally across the state’s western and northern regions.
Major cities experienced a rare period of daytime darkness, with the duration of totality varying based on their proximity to the centerline of the path. Buffalo, for instance, experienced a lengthy totality lasting roughly three minutes and forty-five seconds. Further along the path, cities like Rochester saw the Sun completely blocked for about three minutes and thirty-nine seconds. The shadow continued across the state, passing over Syracuse for a shorter duration of around one minute and twenty-four seconds, before exiting New York near Plattsburgh.
While the northern and western parts of the state witnessed totality, the downstate area, including New York City, only saw a partial eclipse. New York City saw approximately 90% of the Sun obscured at its peak. This high level of coverage still produced a noticeable dimming of the sky, but it was not the darkness experienced inside the narrow path of totality.
Historical Total Eclipses Visible in New York State
The total solar eclipse preceding the 2024 event was nearly a century earlier, occurring on January 24, 1925. The path of totality for the 1925 eclipse followed a very different track across the state, passing over the southeastern portion and affecting the New York City area. Specifically, the path’s southern limit ran just north of 96th Street in Manhattan.
Individuals situated north of that line in Manhattan, along with parts of the Bronx and Long Island, experienced the period of totality. In contrast, those south of 96th Street saw a partial eclipse but missed the total event. Buffalo, which was near the edge of the 1925 path, experienced a totality of approximately one minute and forty-seven seconds, while Rochester’s totality lasted about sixty-five seconds. Between this 1925 event and the 2024 eclipse, New York experienced numerous partial eclipses, most notably the event of August 21, 2017. During that cross-country eclipse, New York State was well outside the path of totality, with New York City experiencing a maximum of about 70–75% solar coverage.
Understanding Partial Versus Total Visibility
The distinction between a total and a partial solar eclipse is defined by the Moon’s shadow, which falls upon the Earth and creates two main components: the umbra and the penumbra. A total solar eclipse is only visible within the umbra, which is the narrow, dark inner cone of the shadow where the Sun is completely blocked.
This umbra creates the “path of totality,” a track typically less than 120 miles wide, which is the only place where the Sun’s corona becomes visible. Outside of this narrow track, observers are within the penumbra, the lighter, outer part of the shadow. An observer in the penumbra sees a partial solar eclipse, where the Moon covers only a portion of the Sun’s disk.
Because the path of totality is so geographically limited, total eclipses are infrequent for any single location. A large state like New York can experience a total eclipse in one region while another major area only receives a partial view. Even a 99% partial eclipse does not produce the same darkening or astronomical phenomena seen during the 100% coverage of totality.