200 million people live within a day?s drive of the total eclipse On Monday, August 21, a solar eclipse will travel across the entire United States for the first time since 1918. Astronomically, it?s one of the biggest events of the decade. And for towns stretching from the west coast of Oregon to the east coast of South Carolina, it?s also shaping up to be one of their biggest tourism events ever.
For the hundreds of towns in the path of ?totality,? the sun will be completely blocked out by the moon for two minutes and a partial eclipse will be visible for about 1.5 hours. Millions of people across the country are expected to travel in order to see what happens when the moon aligns with the sun, creating a black hole ringed by light.
The impact of the eclipse on the towns and cities in its path can?t be overstated. Experts believe that up to 7.4 million people will visit the path of totality on eclipse day, causing potentially crippling traffic, boosting local coffers by millions of dollars, and resulting in what might be the greatest temporary mass migration of humans to see a natural event in U.S. history. This is the story of solar eclipse boom towns.
NASA
The path of the total solar eclipse, stretching from the east coast of South Carolina to the west coast of Oregon.

Where and what?s happening
Eclipses happen every 18 months or so, but many are partial eclipses that can?t be seen well in North America. The hype about the upcoming ...