−48.8%
Andorra
Largest all-request fall, at 18:45 UTC
12 August 2026 total solar eclipse
When the Internet looked up
Internet traffic fell as the eclipse crossed the North Atlantic and Europe. The timing moved from Iceland towards the Iberian Peninsula, although timing alone cannot prove that the eclipse caused every change.
−23.0%
Spain
Largest country drop, at 18:15 UTC
−22.3%
Iceland
Largest country drop, at 17:45 UTC
Analysis
On 12 August 2026, millions of people across Europe stopped to watch a rare total solar eclipse. I was one of them. In Lisbon, about 95% of the Sun was covered. A sliver of sunlight remained visible, so it never became fully dark.
Totality crossed Iceland before reaching northern Spain and a small part of Portugal, while much of the rest of Europe experienced a deep partial eclipse. As I have seen in other years through my work, attention shifted from screens to the sky, and Internet traffic shifted too. Until recently, I worked at Cloudflare, where this kind of Internet analysis was part of my work. In 2024, I wrote a related analysis of the eclipse across Mexico, the United States and Canada that was picked up by news outlets. I built this tracker for fun, in about an hour.
The largest traffic drops broadly followed the eclipse
Cloudflare Radar API data shows clear drops in HTTP request traffic around the eclipse. The timing broadly followed its progression across Europe. The effects were visible at country level and became much sharper in individual regions.
The clearest country-level drops appeared in and around the eclipse’s path. Andorra recorded the largest fall, down 48.8% at 18:45 UTC. Its small population may contribute to greater volatility. Spain fell 23.0%, Iceland 22.3%, the United Kingdom 20.4%, France 19.3%, and Portugal 16.5%.
17:45
Iceland
−22.3%
18:00
United Kingdom
−20.4%
18:15
France
−19.3%
18:15
Spain
−23.0%
18:30
Portugal
−16.5%
18:45
Andorra
−48.8%
The timing is particularly interesting. Iceland reached its largest drop at 17:45 UTC, followed by the United Kingdom at 18:00, France and Spain at 18:15, Portugal at 18:30, and Andorra at 18:45. This progression broadly matches the eclipse moving across Europe and approaching sunset in the Iberian Peninsula. Belgium, Morocco, Canada and the United States showed little change at country level.
Regional effects were much stronger
Traffic fell by as much as 80.0% in Westfjords, Iceland, 66.3% in Aragon, Spain, 48.7% in Bragança, Portugal, 31.8% in New Aquitaine, France, and 31.5% in Wales, United Kingdom. Ordino in Andorra reached the normalized index floor of −100%. Andorra’s regional series are small and volatile, which makes its national result the more reliable comparison.
Interesting stuff.
The sequence is consistent with people in different places stepping away from screens around the eclipse. Other events, ordinary traffic variation and the composition of Cloudflare’s sample may also contribute.
Explore the data
12 August 2026 eclipse: Internet traffic tracker
Change the traffic perspective, inspect the largest country and regional drops, move through the globe timeline, and compare mobile and API traffic composition.
Traffic source
Cloudflare Radar normalized HTTP-request, device and API-traffic series. These are indices and shares, not raw request counts.
Comparison
Each 15-minute point is compared with the equivalent time one week earlier. The country table uses the lowest point from 17:00 through 19:45 UTC.
Interpretation
The analysis describes timing and association. It does not prove causation. Regional values are more volatile than national series.