Happy Rainy Fourth

Hope everyone had a good Fourth of July. I don't know about the rest of you, but our's was amazingly rainy and cool, if you can believe that. I'm all for the cooler temps, but the rain was unrelenting. I'd never seen anything like it for the Fourth. The days leading up to it were sweltering hot, and then a front seemed to move in bringing rain, and lots of it. The forecasters really got it wrong in predicting clear weather for the holiday, but I've noticed that recently their forecasts are strikingly inaccurate. Maybe the weather is just too volatile to predict.

The morning of the Fourth, it poured rain, and I was beginning to wonder if the parade was going to happen. I later learned it happens rain or shine. I went over to help run the show and at that point the rain had stopped. In fact, it was cloudy and pleasant, with no rain. You couldn't ask for better conditions at this time of year, though a little sun would have been nice, but I wasn't about to complain. The parade went smoothly, and a good time was had by all. We then went to the field for the festivities, and again, it was cloudy and cool and nice. By about 3:00, however, it started to drizzle and this helped us to cajole the kids back home. Our timing was spot-on because within a few minutes of being inside, the clouds opened up and it poured. I mean really poured. It rained for a while, and then it never really stopped for the rest of the day-into-night.

We were keeping our eyes on the conditions because we wanted to see the fireworks. We headed back over and it was drizzly but bearable. I think they shot the fireworks a little earlier than usual because the rain had let up a bit and I'm guessing they wanted to seize that window of opportunity. The show was nice, we had a great time, and then it was time to go. Of course, the rain kicked up again, but it was not too bad, and we came home reasonably dry. Not like earlier in the day, where my shoes and socks were soaked. Total bummer.

Strange weather we're having, don't you think? A consequence of global warming, perhaps?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Don Sullivan for the pic.