Major golf tournaments are canceled. There are no more students at school. And thousands of people across North America turned to the skies to watch the rare celestial event.
A total solar eclipse occurred in parts of Mexico, Canada and the United States on Monday, an event that won't occur for another 20 years.
Total solar eclipses aren't exactly rare. He occurs approximately once every 18 months, when the moon passes in front of the sun and blots out its light.
However, most solar eclipses occur in places where people can't see them, such as isolated places in the ocean. Monday's total solar eclipse therefore provided scientists and stargazers with a relatively rare opportunity to enjoy the moon's shadow.
The last time a total solar eclipse occurred in North America was in 2017. The next opportunity for North Americans will come in 2044 and 2045, but other parts of the world will have it sooner.
For example, in 2026, a total solar eclipse is expected to move south from the North Pole and appear in parts of Greenland, Iceland, and Spain.
Monday's celestial spectacle began around 11am local time (6pm GMT) on Mexico's west coast, with tourists in the resort city of Mazatlan seen flocking to beaches to watch.
The area where the total solar eclipse was observed stretched from northern Mexico to central Texas, where the prospect of severe weather forced the cancellation of local eclipse festivals.
The Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnett cited “high winds, tornado activity, large hail and the risk of thunderstorms” as reasons for canceling the four-day event.
The path of totality continued north through the southern United States and into the northeast, following the Canadian border.
Schools in states including New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana canceled classes and closed for the day to allow students to enjoy the event and out of safety concerns.
For example, the Pine-Richland School District in Pennsylvania noted that the eclipse was scheduled to coincide with what would otherwise be a school day off.
“There is a strong possibility that students will attempt to view this video without taking appropriate safety precautions when leaving the school building or getting off the school bus,” the school district said on its website.
Even outside the path of totality, thousands of people gathered in the plaza to catch a glimpse of the moon seemingly taking a bite out of the sun.
In Washington, D.C., the moon covered more than 87 percent of the sun's surface at its peak at 3:20 local time (19:20 GMT), and people gathered on rooftops and on the National Mall to witness the eclipse.
Even in the midst of a solar eclipse, it remained bright outside on a cloudless Monday.
Meanwhile, at the Masters Tournament, a major U.S. golf championship, held in Augusta, Georgia, players momentarily looked up from the green to stare at a sphere much larger than a golf ball.
The last time a tournament was interrupted by a solar eclipse was in 1940. Organizers handed out tournament-branded glasses designed specifically for the eclipse, but the eclipse was only partially visible from southern states.
Professional golfer Brian Herman weighed in on some of the conspiracy theories and folklore circulating about the eclipse on the PGA Tour's website.
“This is pretty good timing,” he joked. “Would you like to see the end of the world at Augusta National?”