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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STAR PRAIRIE, Wis. — Rue has tiny pink casts on her legs and wears a feeding tube in a bandana around her neck. But the staff caring for her at Home for Life Animal Sanctuary says she’s come a long way.

“She’s alert. She’s eating on her own and she’s doing great,” says Heidi Pulaski, a staff member who is fostering Rue while she recovers from a fall that nearly took her lie.

The animal sanctuary says they received Rue in late June after reports she’d been thrown from a twelfth story balcony at a Minneapolis apartment building.

Stacy Harris was at the apartment building the day it happened and saw the cat falling to the ground.

“It hit the concrete,” she said. “My heart is still beating just talking about the story because it was a cat, an animal.”

Harris said her neighbor called Minneapolis Animal Care and Control who took the clearly injured cat away.

Heidi says the Minneapolis Animal Control called several rescues trying to find someone to take the cat but because her medical needs were so great and the costs were so high, no one could.

“It came down to crunch time, a couple hours before she was to be euthanized and we stepped in and said that we would take her,” Heidi told KARE 11.

When the cat – who they called Rue – came to them she had a broken leg, toe and jaw. She was in a lot of pain. But soon after, Heidi says, she began to purr and wanted to be held.

“It was just amazing to me that an animal who had been through that so recently was going to trust a human again,” she said.

Since, Rue’s legs have been set in splints and she underwent a dental procedure that holds her mouth open so she can eat as her jaw heals. The care cost several thousand dollars.

Home For Life decided to publicize Rue’s story in hope of getting some justice for the cat. No one has been arrested for throwing her from the balcony.

“Our hearts break every day for the stories that we hear and Rue in particular,” Heidi says.

As for the future, Heidi says Rue may one day be adopted. If she’s not she will continue to live at Home For Life with the 100 or so other cats rescued.

“We give them the best life we can here and that’s what we would do for Rue if she stayed here as well.”

The cost of caring for Rue and the other animals including medical procedures is funded completely by donations.

To help contribute, you can donate at Home For Life’s website:

https://www.homeforlife.org/donate

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TIJUANA, Baja California — The Caesar salad is reaching a historic milestone on July 4, marking 100 years since the iconic dish was created in Tijuana.

It’s said that Italian immigrant Caesar Cardini invented the culinary creation on July 4, 1924 in his Tijuana restaurant.

In the middle of the dining room, Cardini tossed whole Romaine leaves with ingredients he had on hand, including garlic-flavored oil, Worcestershire sauce, lemons, eggs and Parmesan cheese. 

During prohibition, it quickly became the place to be for those north of the border looking to eat and most importantly drink. 

The original owner, Cardini, was an Italian who had restaurants north and south of the border.

There is some debate about the origins of the salad. Some claim the recipe was actually from the mother of Livio Santini, one of Cardini’s chefs and a fellow Italian immigrant.

It was said that Chef Livio Santini invented the Caesar Salad and Cardini saw the salad and elevated it to the tableside where it was made for the guests fresh each time.

The Caesar salad has evolved since its first iteration in Baja California, but the world’s love of the dish is still as strong as it was in 1924.

On July 7, Baja California will commemorate the Caesar salad’s centennial in Tijuana with a food and wine festival with chefs from around the world. 

In 2022, CBS 8’s Shawn Styles visited the iconic Caesar’s restaurant in Tijuana and had the chance to make the dish and speak with veteran workers of the timeless restaurant. Here’s a recipe if you want to recreate the dish at home.

• 1 Heart of Romaine, whole leaf
• 1 tsp Anchovies paste
• ½ tsp Garlic minced
• ½ tsp Dijon mustard
• 3 dashes Worcestershire
• 1 egg yolk from coddled egg
• ½ cup Light olive oil
• Black Pepper 3 or 4 twists
• Lime juice ½ to whole depending on the amount
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese grated
• Croutons, baguette style

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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