Happy 4th everyone. I want to document something that I love about this celebration. There is something special about the annual lottery of rain during the local professional fireworks show. We get together with friends and family sometime during the day. As the day progresses, the haze gets thicker and clouds begin to gather. You can hear thunder in the distance. As I think back over the past few years I think it’s been about 50/50 - about every other year has been rainy. Sometimes it just sprinkles, other times they have to completely cancel the show due to lightening. Thankfully, this year it wasn’t cancelled but we got soaked as we watched the show under umbrellas or just sitting in the rain.

No other holiday is as dependent on the weather as July 4th. The entire country gathers outside from the hours of 8pm to 9:30pm - prime rain hours in the southeast. It’s funny to watch the five day forecast this time of year in Atlanta because every day is partly cloudy with a chance of evening thunder showers - from Mid-June through August. It’s like the weather people can take the summer off and replay the forecast from the day before all summer long.

So go ahead and make big plans for next year because I predict it will be a sunny July 4th 2006.