Eclipse 2026: Cloudflare Radar Shows Internet Traffic Dips Track Solar Obscuration

On August 12, 2026, a total solar eclipse crossed Europe, and Cloudflare Radar captured how internet traffic responded. The data shows a striking pattern: as the moon covered the sun, HTTP request volumes fell, and they rebounded as the sun reappeared. The correlation is tight enough that the moment of maximum eclipse aligns almost perfectly with the deepest traffic trough.

Traffic dips scale with obscuration

Cloudflare compared HTTP request volumes in five-minute buckets against a baseline of the three previous Wednesdays. The result: regions along the path of totality saw traffic drop by roughly 15% to 30%, while areas with only a shallow partial eclipse saw little or no change. The scatter plot of peak obscuration versus traffic dip shows a clear downward trend, and the timing of the dips matches the eclipse's progression, ruling out random variation.

Iceland, Spain, and Portugal hit hardest

Iceland, Spain, and Portugal experienced the most dramatic declines, with changes ranging from -9.3% to -46.7% depending on the region. In contrast, Norway and Sweden saw slight increases, and Denmark had the least overall change. The effect was most pronounced where the eclipse was deepest, and traffic typically rebounded within minutes of maximum coverage as people returned to their screens.

Methodology and implications

Cloudflare calculated obscuration using precise sun and moon positions, computing the geometric overlap of two circles every five minutes. This allowed them to pinpoint each region's peak obscuration and the moment of maximum eclipse. The baseline comparison used the median of three previous Wednesdays to avoid skew from an anomalous week.

This analysis reinforces that internet traffic is a direct reflection of human attention. When a shared physical event like an eclipse draws people outdoors, digital activity pauses—not because of network failures, but because people choose to look up. The data offers a fascinating snapshot of how a cosmic event can momentarily realign our online world.