In typical Manchester fashion, the heavens opened an hour before England's Lionesses kicked off their Women's Euro 2022 campaign with the eyes of the world on Old Trafford.
And in typical Manchester fashion, that didn't dampen the party atmosphere outside Old Trafford one bit - it just moved the party inside. With the ground filling up, the rain was soon replaced by residual smoke from a pyrotechnic display to open the tournament, with the Lionesses continuing the show over the next two hours.
As England depart Manchester with a hard-fought victory to begin their Euro campaign, they will have almost certainly left a lasting impression on the record-breaking crowd who came to cheer them on - this was a UEFA Women's Euro record attendance of over 68,000, also setting a record for women's football in Manchester in the process.
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This isn't the kind of atmosphere Old Trafford is used to, especially in recent years, thanks to United's inconsistency and off-field dramas. So there was an unfamiliar sight of smiles on faces walking up to the ground, and a rarely-felt sense of hope and optimism and genuine belief in the home team. Naturally, crowds in women's football are less tribal than this stadium would usually attract, with a much younger demographic and plenty more families adding to the positive mood.
That is exactly the kind of crowd organisers want to attract, though, and it will please them how many young girls seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves in the stands and getting behind the Lionesses. They were here for a party and to enjoy the football, and they started early.
They were rewarded with an opening goal for England, but only after some Austrian pressure from the start threatened to derail the atmosphere that had been building. However, when Fran Kirby chipped a lovely ball through to Beth Mead in the area, who took a touch and lobbed over the goalkeeper, the volume rose considerably - and again after a VAR check confirmed the ball had crossed the line and Mead was onside.
In the stands, a Mexican wave started, before phones lit up around the stadium as if it were a pop concert. There were pantomime boos at points, too, with the critics already starting to pipe up on social media about why people enjoying themselves at a football game was somehow a bad thing.
But if this tournament is about inspiring young girls that football can be a viable career - and things like Mexican waves are what keep them entertained along with the football on the pitch - then the inevitable sneerers will be missing the point spectacularly.
