ST PAUL, Minn. — The last time this much rain forced the widespread cancellation of fireworks was nearly 30 years ago.
But the 4th of July actually has a long history of extreme weather, and some of these events may have shaped your holiday experiences, including the Boundary Waters blowdown in 1999.
"The storm was epical," said author Cary J. Griffith, who wrote a new book this year about the event called a derecho.
The winds toppled 48 million trees in the Boundary Waters with the power of a category four hurricane. There are reports of six foot waves and nearly a half a million acres destroyed. The falling trees also hurt dozens of campers.
"It maybe happens once every 500 years," said Griffith. "I'm not sure a blowdown of that intensity ever happened in the Boundary Waters."
The 4th of July storm hit on a Sunday, marking a time of year experts say has more hazardous weather than any other major holiday in Minnesota.
From the extreme heat wave in 2012 when the temperature reached 101 to the washout in 1995 that canceled fireworks across the state that state climatologist Pete Boulay likens to this year's relentless rain.
"When you see the food trucks leave early, that's what I would define as a washout," Boulay said laughing.
The last three months are now the fourth wettest on record. The swollen rivers, and the people who live around them, are used to them cresting in April when the snow melts — not so much in the summer.
"It doesn't really flood that often on the rivers in June and into July here, and it impacts different things like 4th of July," said Boulay.
There is one weather story that hasn't been told. The State Climatology Office has never confirmed a single instance of snow falling on July 4th in the Twin Cities — and here's to hoping it stays that way.
"What struck me the most of all that was there were no fatalities," said Griffith about the blowdown back in 1999.
People are lucky to be alive and a landscape will never look the same, but it no doubt is an unforgettable holiday memory.
"There's still remnants of the blowdown in the forest, there's still fuel there, but it's really grown up," said Griffith. "It's really green, but it looks like a younger forest."
That historic storm laid down timber that would later catch fire in the Ham Lake fire of 2007 that Griffith also wrote about. You can click here to find his latest releases.
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