The herald., 1896-08-25
Phenomenal Condition Through.
out the State
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
XIII One Man and Frighten a Great
Many
Heavy Dews Have Damaged Drying Fruit and
Delayed Grain Threshing-Sum-
mer Crops Not Harmed
, ssociated Press Special Wire

Associated Press Special Wire
SACRAMENTO, Aug. 24.-The fol-
lowing synopsis of the weather and crop
conditions during the week ending on
Monday August "a, is issued by the
state Agricultural society, in co-opera-
ton with the United States climatic and
crop service:
The average temperature for the week
was as follows: Eureka. 5S; Fresno,
50; Los Angeles, 70; Red Bluff, so; Sac
ramento, rs; San Francisco, 5S; San D-
ego, IS.
AS compared with the normal tenn
peratures, there were excesses of heat
reported at Eureka, Fresno, Red Bluff
and Sacramento of two degrees. HLt
deficiencies were reported from Los An
geles of three degrees and San Fran
cisco two degrees, while San Diego re-
ports normal temperature to have pre-
vailed at that point during the week.
There were traces of rain reported to
have fallen at Eureka San Francisco
and Sacramento, which is about the
normal condition of the state for this
season of the year.
Highest and lowest temperatures, 105
at Lime Kiln, Tulare county, and As at
Yreka.
The climatic conditions of the week
have been good for all growing crops.
Fruit drying and grain threshing have
been retarded by the excessive moisture
in the air during the forenoons.
The great meteorological phenomena
of the past ten days has been the cleo
trical storms. with heavy thunder and
vivid forked lightning. which killed one
person at Pomona, and produced cloud
bursts in the mountain regions OF San
Bernardino county, causing washouts
in many places and injuring to some ex-
tent the orchard regions of the county.
On the 18th there were heavy electrical
storms along the coast from Pacific
Grove to San Francisco, with heavy rain
at Salinas. Objects were struck along
the coast.
On the 10Th heavy thunder and light
ming storms passed over the southern
portion of Yolo county, with heavy
rains lasting about fifteen minutes, kill
ing a mule and stunning a driver to
such an extent that he did not recover
sensibility for several hours. On the
22d the severest thunder and lightning
storm ever known passed over the town
of Marysville, striking several build
ings. On the same day there was an
extremely severe thunder and light
ming storm passed over the mountain
regions of Placer county at Summit,
Emigrant Gap. Blue Canyon and Cas-
cade, with hail falling to the depth of
nearly four inches.
During the week there We're numerous
thunder and lightning storms in the
mountain regions of Siskiyou county, as
we'll as Modoc, Lassen and Plumas coun-
ties, which are all mountain counties.
Such storms as these are extremely
rare during the months of July and Au-
gust, but they occur frequently during
the months of April and September, the
beginning of the change of season from
wet to dry or from dry to wet.
A few years ago there were three Sc
we're electric storms passed over Sacra-
mento during the afternoon and even
ing of one day, with heavy RAIN which,
injured the display of art in the art
gallery of the state fair in the pavilion
Severe electrical storms in California
outside of the mountain regions. are OF
rare occurrence, and seldom occur along
the coast or in the valley regions of the
crop-p producing portions of this state
during July and August, but the noun
tain regions have them every few days
during those two months.
Taking both July and August of this
year. they have been rather phenome-
nal months. There have been heavy
and unusual dews, which have dscol-
ored the drying fruit in the Santa Clara
and Vacaville valley districts and have
| prevented grain threshing from being
carried on until late in the morning
Such heavy dews in July and August
are said to be premonitions of early
rains during the coming fall.