Total eclipse of the Internet: traffic impacts in Mexico, the US, and Canada

Eclipse watchers logged off, and the data proves it

When the Moon crossed between Earth and the Sun on April 8, 2024, millions of people across Mexico, the US, and Canada stepped outside to watch. The "Great North American Eclipse" was a rare celestial event — the last total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States until August 23, 2044 — and it showed up clearly in Internet traffic patterns observed by Cloudflare.

Traffic data from Cloudflare Radar shows a distinct and geographically coherent drop in bytes delivered and HTTP requests, tracing the eclipse's path from south to north between 15:42 UTC and 20:52 UTC.

National aggregate dipped modestly

For the United States as a whole, the effect was visible but moderate. At 19:00 UTC — roughly the midpoint of the eclipse's US transit — bytes delivered had fallen 8% compared to the previous week. HTTP requests dropped further, down 12% at the same timestamp.

While a 8–12% national decline might seem small, the state-level picture tells a far more dramatic story, particularly for states sitting directly in the path of totality.

Totality states saw the steepest declines

When broken down by state, the traffic dips closely mirror the eclipse's geographic path. Six states — Vermont, Arkansas, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Ohio — recorded traffic reductions of 40% or more around the time of the event. All of these were in the path of totality.

Vermont saw the sharpest single-state drop, with traffic falling roughly 60% at the peak of the eclipse relative to the prior week. Arkansas, Maine, and Indiana also exhibited pronounced dips, as did New York, which led among the more populous states even though it was only partially in the path of totality.

The 5-minute granularity of the data allows the timing of each state's maximum drop to be matched against the eclipse's local progression, reinforcing that people were not simply away from their desks — they were outdoors, looking up.

Mexico: first in line

Mexico experienced the eclipse before it reached US soil, and its traffic data shows a similar pattern. States within the eclipse zone — Coahuila, Durango, and Sinaloa — saw notable dips in traffic, though the effect was not limited to the direct path. Mexico City, well south of totality, also registered reduced activity.

In Durango and Coahuila, the decline was especially pronounced, with traffic bottoming out close to the moment of maximum eclipse coverage.

Canada: a small island made the biggest impression

Canada's Atlantic provinces were the last to experience the eclipse. Prince Edward Island posted the country's most significant traffic reduction — a particularly striking result given its population of under 200,000. New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador also saw measurable impacts as the eclipse moved toward the North Atlantic.

A human event, written in network logs

The eclipse adds to a growing list of human and natural events that measurably shift Internet usage. Cloudflare has previously documented traffic changes around Black Friday and Cyber Week, religious holidays like Easter and Ramadan, the coronation of King Charles III, and infrastructure failures such as the undersea cable outages in Africa in March 2024. The pattern is consistent: when people collectively turn their attention elsewhere, the network reflects it.

The data is available for deeper exploration via Cloudflare Radar.