The Nation: Overkill

Against meteorological odds, it has rained in Waynesburg, Pa., every July 29 for 85 of the last 95 years. Such rainfall regularity would come as welcome relief to farmers in the parched Midwest, now sweltering in its severest drought in a generation (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS). Rain Day has become an annual rite in Waynesburg (pop. 5,152) in the years since 1879, and last week the usual festivities, from square dances to a town picnic, were on the agenda. Few townspeople elected to hang black snakeskins on their fences as offerings to the rain gods as in days gone by. Instead, many chose such commonplace precipitators as cleaning windows, hanging out laundry or washing the family car. They were duly rewarded at 12:59 a.m. as a few droplets of rain fell, sending up New Year’s Eve whoops all over town. The manifestation proved to be merely an overture, however. At 5 in the afternoon, the tail end of a nearby tornado dumped a drenching .59 inches of rain on Waynesburg within 2% hours. Observed one soaked resident: “We did need a few drops, but this was ridiculous.”