Dubbed the ‘Great North American Eclipse’, the data indicated that in aggregate terms, bytes delivered traffic dropped by 8% and request traffic by 12% as compared to the previous week at 19:00 UTC.
Cloudflare data shows that Vermont, Arkansas, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio experienced traffic drops of 40% or more around the time of the eclipse.
These states were all in the path of totality, which was not the case for others.
Mexico was the first country of the three where the eclipse was visible. States within the eclipse zone, such as Coahuila, Durango and Sinaloa experienced noticeable drops in traffic. Even Mexico City, located further south, was affected.
Canada was the last of the three countries to experience the eclipse. Prince Edward Island experienced the most significant impact in Canada. This region has a population of less than 200,000 and is one of eastern Canada’s maritime provinces, situated off New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
Cloudflare concluded that human and nature-related events significantly impact internet traffic. This was the case for Black Friday/Cyber Week, Easter, Ramadan celebrations, the coronation of King Charles III, the recent undersea cable failure in Africa and now the eclipse.
