People cross a flooded street during a rainstorm as Tropical Storm Hilary arrives Palm Springs, California on August 20, 2023. Southern California is under a tropical storm warning which could bring heavy rains, high winds and flooding. (Photo by Philip Cheung for The Washington Post)

Swan Uppers try to capture a swan and it's Cygnets on the River Thames near Windsor, England, during Swan Upping, with Windsor Castle in background, Tuesday July 20, 2021. The ancient tradition of Swan Upping is the annual census to gauge the numbers and health of the swan population on the River Thames. (Photo by Steve Parsons/PA Wire via AP Photo)

A) 1st place WINNER – Roy Rimmer. “This rat was in an outdoor set I made, the set up is two meters long and a meter wide made of Perspex,it has a plywood front with holes cut in for my camera and flash guns, I placed two rusty paint cans in the set up and the rat would leap from one can too the other, I had to use flash to freeze the action”.

With temperatures soaring and summer well underway, countless Americans will be spending their Independence Day weekend at the beach. Here we revisit some classic images from the turn-of-the-century to the 1930's of vacations by the sea, from Coney Island to Santa Monica.

Deaf and hard of hearing people perform a Buddhist Guanyin Thousand Hand dance to mark Sunday's National Day for Helping the Disabled in Yunnan, Kunming province, China on May 19, 2018. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)

Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 138th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Friday, February 2, 2024. Phil's handlers said that the groundhog has forecast an early spring. (Photo by Barry Reeger/AP Photo)

A forest on a mountain slope next to a township is seen on fire in Dharmsala, India, Monday, April. 25, 2022. Dry pine needles covering the forest floor and high daytime temperatures result in many forest fires in summer months. (Photo by Ashwini Bhatia/AP Photo)

“Hippo Chase”. As we approached the camp the Selinda Reserve of northern Botswana our boat passed by a hippo resting in the water. I turned around to look back at the boat's wake and saw the hippo charging after us! The hippo must've been tired from an all-nighter because he was angry. He rose way up out of the water three times trying to chase our boat! He was coming at us with such force that he created a wake of his own. Photo location: Selinda Reserve of northern Botswana. (Photo and caption by Curtis Simmons/National Geographic Photo Contest)