Good weather is the key to these good times, of course, but did you know it's also the key to spectacular fireworks?
Nothing puts a damper on a fireworks display like a muggy day. Let the chairman of the famed Zambelli Fireworks Company of New Castle, Pa., explain: The brilliance of fireworks is better in low humidity," says Dr. George Zambelli. "The higher humidity will cause the smoke to lay closer to the ground and appear more dense, and ultimately it will decrease the brilliance.
"The most brilliant fireworks are in low humidity when you have the winds carrying the smoke away from the spectators. In large displays you have a lot of pyrotechnic material going off at once, so you need something to dissipate that smoke, he said.
What about other weather conditions?
Lightning storms can be too dangerous to set fireworks off, and they usually cause a delay in the program.
Oddly, rain isn't a problem. Fireworks can be fired right through it.
"Rain doesn't cause an issue and it doesn't impact how fireworks look because the colors are so vibrant," says Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, the fireworks industry's main trade association.