Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-28
ELEMENTS AT PLAY.
Pittsburg Favored With Phenom-
ena in the Weather.
YESTERDAYS SSTRANGE EXTREMES
Heat, Rain, Wind and Temperature in
Remarkable Quantities
CASUALTIES OF A CHANGEABLE DAY

|
Yesterday was record breaker as far az
the weather was concerned. Sergeant
Stewart was busy last night in studying up
the phenomena chart in the lofty weather
Office to find comparisons
1t was day of extremes. There was q
dash of the hottest weather of the summer,
the temperature had the greatest fall in
least time, the greatest fall of rain de-
| scended, and the wind blew harder than for
several years. In addition to these facts
comes the welcome intelligence that the
''back bone" of the heated spell has been
broken and Pirtsburgers will be visited with
more refreshing weather and some little
dsmpness for the next day or SO.
The thermigraph bad many surprises.
From the high mark OH Tuesday the tenn
perature fell to 75o during the early
hours of yesterday morning. 1t took a
gradual rise from this time and at o'clock
marked the point of 100. The suns heat
began to grow more intense until at noon it
was at 900 and 80 more were mounted by
the tiny blue pencil on the electrical in
strument at 2 o'clock.
Nearly an Inch of Water Fell.
The thunder storm came up about that
time and during the half hour the hail and
rain poured down in sheets and gusts.
Eighty hundredths of water fell and the
temperature descended to 700, something
unprecedented in the history of summer
weather for the last decade.
The phenomenal rapidity with which the
storm came on proved most disastrous to
the toilets of many pedestrians who were
upon the streets The alacrity with which
entrances to hotels and stores were made was
as necessary as it was humorous. Hail fell in
manv parts of the two cities. and, although
small, came down with sufficient force to
uncomfortable slug exposed members of
coporeal bodies.
The storm came to an end as abruptly as
it started and the temperature resumed its
ambitious tendencies and bv o'clock was
800 hot. At that hour a southwesterly
wind came over the hills and for while
blew at the rate of 80 miles an hour, feat
not before accomplished since the stormy
July of 'S6.
In speaking of the satisfactory weather
visited upon the two cities, Sergeant Stew
art said none had cause to complain. "For,"
and windy weather, and more could
scarcely be wished for The heated spell
has come to an end, for the present at least"
he continued, "and cooler or less hot
weather may be expected for the next few
days That there will be more hot weather
for this locality within short time seems
very probable, as the barometer is low in
the West and hot wave may come this
way.
What Caused the Intense Heat.
"Was the intense heat of the last few
days due to hot wave?" asked The DIS
PATCH man.
'No," replied Sergeant Stewart, set is
due to the combined heat of the earth and
the sun and the absence of winds. For the
last few weeks the heat from the sun has
been excessive and the only winds that
have blown were quite gentle and not
strong enough to sweep the heat away. As
a result the earth became hot and the begin
ming of the hot spell was due practically to
the absence of wind, which allowed the heat
of the earth to arise and meet the suns
heat and produced extremely high tempera-
ture. The barometer has been high, which
shows conclusively that this was not caused
by atmospheric passages, and it has gener-
ally been so throughout the country"
Mrs Lois Walkenshaw, widow, aged 65
years. was found dead yesterday afternoon
at her residence, No. 81 Sturgeon street,
Allegheny. The Coroner was notified It
is thought the heat was the cause OF death.
Overcome by the Heat
William McNally suffered a sunstroke |
and is now lying at the West |
Penn Hospital The probabilities are he |
will recover. McNally lives at 3010 Null |
berry alley, and was passing Thirty-third |
and Smallman streets, when he was over |
,ame with the heat He is IS years of age |
md has only been in America short time |
An unknown man, evidently mill man,
while walking over the railroad bridge at |
street was overcome by the
heat and fell to the ground. He was taken
% the West Penn Hospital where it was
ound that he had not been injured by the
all He lay in stupor all day and the at
endants were unable to learn his name or
lnything about him. He is in q serious
The Southside suffered severely from the
torn yesterday afternoon. Several places
we're struck by lightning and much damage
lone to property. The storm was particu-
arly severe in the lower part of the city,
While Mt. Washington was much the worse
or the experience.
Furnace Struck by Lightning.
Soon after the beginning of the storm
ne of the furnaces In the glass house, on
he corner of Carson and Tenth streets,
1as struck by lightning and the stack
nocked over. The loss will be several
undred dollars Shortly afterwards a
arge tree, standing in the rear of No 826
arson street, was struck by lightning and
lown down. Some of the family, who |
-ere sitting in the door at the time, were
everely shocked.
Water came off the hill above the Pitts
urg, Virginia and Charleston Railroad in ,
,rrents and flooded the tracks and yard
bove Sixth street. The excavations being !
lade preparatory to building a wall below
,e yards were filed with mud and debris, :
that it will take several days to clear 7
way and restore the work to its former i
,ndition. r
Further down the street the storm was !
zen more disastrous. The street near the
ittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad was q
led to the depth of a foot and a half with n
I'D. stones and pieces of logs and rendered t
most impossible. Electric lights were
own down and things torn up In general
Mt Washington suffered more from the
ind than water. Trees were uprooted and 4
nbs blown into the street.
The engineers on the Castle Shannon In
inc received severe electric shock while