Weather Forces Temporary Shelter on National Mall but Fourth of July Program Continues

Beginning around 7 p.m. Eastern Time on July 4, 2026. Organizers directed thousands of attendees to white tents for shelter while D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management listed the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Department of Commerce, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S.

Department of Agriculture as emergency shelters. The evacuation followed the morning cancellation of the city's Independence Day parade due to extreme heat. President Trump was scheduled to deliver remarks at approximately 9:45 p.m.

Eastern Time, followed by a fireworks show planned by Pyrotecnico that would launch 850,000 individual projectiles over 40 minutes. First Lady Melania Trump attended the Salute to America 250 Celebration & Fireworks. Military flyovers were also part of the program.

Pope Leo XIV marked the day in Lampedusa, Sicily, by praying at a migrant cemetery and celebrating Mass. His zucchetto blew off into the ocean at Favaloro Pier, after which an aide provided a replacement. Later he visited the residence of U.S.

Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch, who presented a commemorative baseball, apple pie, and U.S. World Cup jersey; the pope confirmed he was rooting for the American team. Severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings covered multiple counties in Illinois and northwest Indiana, with flooding already reported in Chicago's northwest suburbs.

Annapolis, Maryland, canceled its parade and a Naval Academy band performance after recording 95 degrees with a heat index of 108 degrees at 2:30 p.m. A man climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris on July 4 and draped a U.S. flag between the second and third floors before being arrested; the forecourt and those levels were briefly evacuated.