Community Corner

Five Things to Know Today, Dec. 13

Guaranteed to tell you something you didn't know yesterday.

Welcome to Tuesday. Here are some things to know as you head into the day.

The weather: It'll be party sunny, with a high of about 60, and the low tonight will be around 44 degrees.

Gas prices: In Lilburn, prices reported to www.georgiagasprices.com for a gallon of regular in the past 24 hours ranged from $3.11 (at QuikTrip, 4900 Stone Mountain Hwy near Stone Drive) to $3.29 (at Citgo, 4967 Lawrenceville Hwy at Holly Ridge Drive). The average in Georgia is $3.207, and in the U.S., it's $3.27, about 16 cents less than a month ago, according to AAA.

Find out what's happening in Lilburn-Mountain Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lucy. In another in the long list of European folk traditions around the Winter Solstice and Christmas, this is St. Lucy's Day in Scandanavia and a smattering of other countries. Premodern calendars there recorded Dec. 13 as the longest night of the year (it's Dec. 21 or 22 by modern time keeping). The commemoration features a procession by a young woman portraying St. Lucy, or Lucia, dressed in white and bearing a wreath of evergreen, a red sash and a crown of candles - all the things you need to banish winter and call back the sun. She's accompanied by helpers and hands out cookies and sweets. Happy Yuletide!

Meteors! It's meteor shower time again, and tonight may be the best night of all to view this year's Geminid meteor shower. The forecast is only partly cloudy tonight, so the stars should be up there, especially if you get out of town a bit. After midnight will be best. The shower is named for the constellation Gemini because the meteors appear to come from an area in front of the Twins.

Find out what's happening in Lilburn-Mountain Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Civil War in Georgia: General Sherman's long, punitive march from Atlanta through central Georgia to the sea was over, but he wanted to be resupplied by Union ships off the coast. From Savannah, there was still one obstacle in his way: Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River south of Savannah. It was manned by 230 troops, and they rained artillery on the approaching Union forces, but on Dec. 13, 1864, it ended quickly. Sherman's fighters took the fort in 15 minutes, and his army was able to connect with the Union fleet offshore.



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