Breathtaking total solar eclipse wows skywatchers in Quebec
'Hollywood could not have manufactured better weather,' says climatologist
Across southern Quebec, time seemed to stop Monday afternoon as everybody looked up at the sky.
The moon drifted between the sun and earth for a few moments, but how long you were in the dark depended on where you were positioned along the path of totality — a corridor approximately 200 kilometres wide and 14,700 kilometres long across North America.
For example, most of Montreal fell within the path, but Laval did not. Meanwhile, Sherbrooke was near the path's centre.
That means those in Montreal saw the eclipse for roughly one minute, 25 seconds, while those in Sherbrooke were in the dark for three minutes, 23 seconds.
The eclipse darkened the skies of Montérégie, the Eastern Townships, Centre-du-Québec, the Beauce and the Magdalen Islands.
David Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment Canada, said the weather forecast in Quebec was the best in all of North America for viewing the event.
"Wall-to-wall sunshine from Montreal to Sherbrooke, Quebec City, even Gaspé … it's just truly incredible," he said.
Phillips described the weather as an anomaly, as there's only a 20 per cent chance of clear, sunny skies in April.
"Look at the miserable weather last week — rain and snow and wind and people without power — and then later this week, more foul weather, but in between there is this window of just such favourable eclipse weather," he said.
"Hollywood could not have manufactured better weather than what you are going to see in [the] province."
Heavy traffic as eclipse watchers pour in
Police and Transports Québec officials warned that thousands of people will be converging on communities that lie in the eclipse's path of totality to get the best view.
The influx in travellers resulted in heavy congestion early Monday afternoon across multiple regions of the province, including in Montreal and Quebec City.
In Montreal, Berri-UQAM Metro station was packed by 2 p.m. with people trying to take the yellow line to Jean-Drapeau park. Meanwhile, provincial police shut down exit ramps to Sainte-Hélène island from the Jacques Cartier Bridge because the area was so saturated with motorists. Police encouraged people to take public transit instead.
Officials from Montreal's Espace pour la vie, which organized the public event, said 100,000 people attended. After the eclipse, with transit overwhelmed, the bridge was packed with pedestrians heading back to Montreal.
"People have been coming in to Quebec from Ontario, from northeast USA for the last few days and over the next hours, but they're all going to leave at the same time," said Transports Québec spokesperson Louis-André Bertrand.
Bertrand said the Transport Ministry mobilized extra personnel and halted all highway roadwork in key areas.
Meanwhile, Quebec provincial police published a special video pleading with drivers to not pull over on the side of the road and not to wear eclipse glasses while driving.
Alec Cooper drove about an hour from Quebec City to Saint-Georges, Que., in the Beauce region Sunday night to get a front-row seat to the action.
Cooper, an astrophotographer, wasted no time setting up his telescope to capture what will be the third total solar eclipse he has seen.
"You will get hooked on eclipses when you see your first total," he said Monday afternoon ahead of the event.
While Cooper said he could have driven to Lac-Mégantic in the Eastern Townships, where the eclipse will last about 80 seconds longer than the one in Beauce, he said his spot is still "plenty of time to just have your mind blown."
There were several viewing parties during the eclipse.
A total eclipse of the sun happens about every 18 months, but it's rare to live within the path of totality.
Canadians will have to wait 20 years for the next total eclipse, and that will be mainly visible in the Northwest Territories and Alberta, according to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
In Quebec, it won't be visible again until 2106, the CSA says.
CBC to offer range of eclipse coverage
CBC Montreal is gathering video of how people are watching the eclipse for a project on this once-in-a-lifetime event we are all experiencing together. We're looking for video of what you do during those minutes of totality.
You can send it to videoquebec@cbc.ca, or tag us on Tiktok or Insta @cbcmontreal. We will credit all the video we use in our final production and you will be able to see it later in the day.
CBC has live coverage of the eclipse on Monday online, on the radio and television.
Listen to a special edition of CBC Quebec's afternoon radio program, Breakaway, live from Bishop's University in Lennoxville from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on CBC Radio One and the CBC Listen app.
Here are more ways to follow the the eclipse live across Canada on CBC.
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with files from CBC's Lauren McCallum and Émilie Warren