Arthur Ruins July 4 Plans, but Not Much Else

Maybe they should have called it Hurricane Benedict Arnold: Independence Day plans in North Carolina and elsewhere on the East Coast are in disarray thanks to Hurricane Arthur—though as CNN reports, the state "seems to have dodged a bullet." Arthur strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane yesterday, making landfall at 11:15pm EST with 100mph winds—if it had been a little later, it would have been the first hurricane ever to make landfall on July 4. But it didn't stay long. North Carolina officials reported few issues this morning, as the National Weather Service declared Arthur had moved off land and over the Atlantic by sun-up, tracking a path over the water that runs parallel to New England's coast. At its most severe point, some 21,000 North Carolina customers were without power.

Fireworks shows in New Jersey, Maine, and New Hampshire have been delayed until later in the weekend because of the storm, while Boston held its annual Boston Pops Fourth of July concert and fireworks show a day early, the AP reports. Heavy rains and lightning, however, forced organizers to end the fireworks early, and skip the performance of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," one of the most cherished parts of the annual show. "They took away the best part of the whole concert," one attendee complains to the Boston Globe. (More Hurricane Arthur stories.)