In case you missed it: World War II heroes return to Normandy as the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of D-Day

By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer

The world came together on Thursday to reflect on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

AccuWeather commemorated the solemn anniversary with a series of stories and videos focusing on how weather played a pivotal role in the massive invasion and throughout the war.

AccuWeather National Weather Reporter Jonathan Petramala was live on the AccuWeather Network from Normandy, where a ceremony including World War II veterans and world leaders such as President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron took place.

Back in the U.S. weather extremes persisted as fires burned in parts of the West and flooding hitting other areas. A wildfire in Grant County, Washington, spread rapidly earlier this week thanks to dry conditions and untimely winds. On Thursday evening, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources stated that the wildfire, known as the 243 Fire, was now 65% contained.

While no homes have been destroyed by the fire, residents from the town of Smyrna were forced to evacuate and 25 houses were considered in danger. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources released a statement about burn restrictions on Thursday, outlining numerous areas where fires of any size are disallowed and other areas where written burn permits burning will also no longer be allowed.

Smoke plumes from the Highway 243 Fire on Tuesday in Grant County, Washington. (Twitter photo/@ChiefDepGregg)

The smoke from the fire was picked up on radar more than 100 miles away in Spokane, Washington. The gusty winds not only fueled the blaze but also carried the smoke across the state, earning Spokane the unfortunate recognition for having the worst air quality in the country for a time.

Farther down the West Coast, another strange radar observation briefly puzzled weather officials, but turned out not to be weather related at all. In Southern California, an 80-mile-wide mass was picked up on radar and initially confused National Weather Service meteorologists, who mistook the radar reading for a dense cloud. It wasn't until they sent a ground spotter to the scene to investigate that they realized what it actually was.

Elsewhere in the country, dense clouds on radar were very much real and dumped heavy rain in the Northeast and caused flooding throughout the central United States.

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The continued flooding in states such as Arkansas and Missouri saw multiple levees breach and record flooding on the Arkansas River. People in over 150 homes were forced to evacuate last weekend in Holla Bend, Arkansas.

Mandatory evacuations were also put into place after the Missouri River topped a levee in Howard County, Missouri. The Missouri Department of Transportation reported that over 300 roads were underwater.

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A slow-moving storm along with tropical moisture began dousing the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana during the middle of the week, bringing a month's worth of rain in 24 hours to Lafayette, Louisiana. Baton Rouge and New Orleans were also underwater after downpours hit on Thursday.

Amid the flooding rain, the Storm Prediction Center reported at least eight tornadoes in the south-central U.S. on Thursday.

Emergency responders retrieved vehicles submerged in nearly 9 feet of water on Thursday, June 6, 2019. (Photo/Baton Rouge Police Department)

In the Northeast, thousands were left soaked and angry after festivalgoers were forced to evacuate the 2019 Governors Ball Music Festival. While the festival's website had said the event was "rain or shine," the event's headlining performers were unable to perform in the downpours.

This was the third time in recent years that the event had been impacted by weather. Fans voiced their complaints through social media for the event organizer's lack of preparedness, particularly for not starting Sunday's show earlier when the weather was more agreeable.

"At first, we didn't like the fact that they delayed the festival when it had been sunny all afternoon. If they just started earlier or canceled the whole thing hours before they opened the doors, then we would've saved a lot of time, money and effort,” Eli Frances Abad told AccuWeather. “The festival organizers were definitely not prepared, at least for situations like this."

Spectators with umbrellas arrive for the quarterfinal matches of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

In France, strong storms similarly impacted the French Open on Wednesday. Heavy rain and rumbles of thunder forced all of Wednesday's matches to be canceled and caused a scheduling headache for organizers.

The canceled day of matches forced the rest of the event to be condensed and players needed to play multiple days in a row just to fit in the entire tournament. Tournament Director Guy Forget said the schedule was far from ideal.

"Some girls might be playing three days in a row," he said. "First of all, it's a very difficult task for one or two of them. Most of these girls have been waiting all of their lives to play such a big match, and to actually be playing a match of that magnitude with already two matches in their legs is a difficult task."