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Let it rain
Based on existing weather models from three reputable weather services - the National Weather Service in Moon Township, AccuWeather in State College and the Weather Channel out of Atlanta, Ga. - it appears that the Rain Day prophecy - that it almost always rains in Waynesburg on July 29 - will be fulfilled before today is over.
And, looking at how the National Weather Service has plotted the weather, the first rain drops should have begun falling sometime after 1 a.m. And then things really begin to happen. Showers and thunderstorms are forecast before noon, then showers are likely and possibly a thunderstorm after noon. Chance of rain is 90 percent.
The Weather Channel, meanwhile, calls for scattered thunderstorms with a 60 percent chance of rain all day and AccuWeather is pretty close to that mark as well.
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Temperatures are expected to hover in the high 70s depending on the degree of cloud cover. Humidity levels could be a tad high.
So if all this weather science materializes that will mean Rain Day has lived up to its name 111 of the past 135 years. It will also mean Waynesburg Borough Mayor Blair Zimmerman will collect a hat from Katie Stam, 22, of Indiana, Miss America 2009.
If Zimmerman does add to his haberdashery collection, it should ease last year's disappointment when he lost to Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl because it didn't rain a drop last year.
It didn't rain in 2003 or 2004, either, but "officially," it rained in 2005, but only barely. At least five people, some of whom did not know each other, reported feeling a few drops during the festival, but most festivalgoers didn't feel a thing.
The phantom raindrops undoubtedly caused some to suspect a water pistol or bird as a source of the "precipitation." Nevertheless, Waynesburg police Chief Tim Hawfield investigated and declared 2005's Rain Day a rainy one, and that meant a Donald Trump hat for Zimmerman.
And if the best chance for rain is in the wee hours of the morning, as some weather models predict, patrol officers from Waynesburg Borough police will probably be the first to call Rain Day a success.
"We're objective. We will be out on patrol, and if one of our guys sees water droplets, we'll call it," Hawfield said. "I like to think we are the only ones up at those obscene hours of the morning."
