As everyone knows, a total solar eclipse will block the sun and cover Arkansas in darkness April 8.

The total eclipse will last for a grand total of 4 minutes and 28 seconds.

This is a very special event since the last total eclipse was over 10 years ago. 

The path of totality is a strip of land that will be the darkest because the moon will completely cover the sun.

According to NASA, the temperature will be around 10 degrees cooler during the eclipse, and the sky will become dark. 

It is these fascinating natural occurrences that attract people to visit the path of totality.

Arkansas is one of the handful of states in the path of totality during the total solar eclipse; Little Rock is also on the path of totality. 

There are some much larger cities going to be in the path of totality, such as Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, Texas; Cleveland, Ohio; and Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, New York.

This is only a handful of large cities with much more to offer than Little Rock that are going to be in the path of totality. 

According to the Arkansas Department of Health, an estimated 1.5 million people will visit the state. This figure seems outlandish. 

With so many better cities, no offense, Little Rock, as options to watch the eclipse, I think this overestimate of tourists is baffling. 

According to an Arkansas Times article, “Michael Zeiler, who writes about and models geographic information systems (GIS) data and operates GreatAmericanEclipse.com and eclipse-maps.com, recently published estimates for how many visitors states can expect to see on April 8. He predicts between 70,000 and 281,000 eclipse visitors in Arkansas.” 

Zeiler said the “biggest factor for the number of visitors to a particular state is whether there are big cities nearby.”

Memphis, Tennessee, is around two hours away from Little Rock. 

Zeiler estimates Texas will have an influx of tourists of over one million.

Zeiler’s figures provide a much more realistic number of tourists we can expect to see visiting us here in Arkansas.

The majority of these visitors will be in Little Rock, and I highly doubt that Conway will notice much of a difference in the tourist population.

While all these numbers are estimates and projections, we will not know what will happen tourist-wise until the day of the eclipse.

The total eclipse will be April 8, so make sure you get your eclipse glasses. 

This is going to be a spectacular sight, and you will not want to miss it.