The record-union., 1896-08-25
A PECULIAR SEASON.
Weather Director Barwick Descants
on Recent Weather.

The following synopsis of the weather
and crop condition during the week end
ing Monday, August 24th, is issued by
the State Agricultural Society, in con-
junction with the United States Climate
and Crop Service, James A Barwick
Section Director:
The average temperature for the week
ending August oath was as follows for
the weather bureau stations named:
Eureka 5S degrees, Fresno 80, Los An
geles 20, Red Bluff 80, Sacramento Is,
San Francisco So, San Diego 7S.
AS compared with the normal tenn
peratures, there were excesses of heat
reported at Eureka, Fresno, Red Bluff
and Sacramento Of 2 degrees. Heat de-
fciences were reported from Los An
geles of degrees, and San Francisco 2
degrees, while San Diego reports normal
temperature to have prevailed 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 the
season of the year.
The highest and lowest temperatures
were 105 degrees at Lime Kiln, Tu1are
kiyou County.
The climatic conditions of the week
have been good for all growing crops
Fruit drying and grain threshing has
been retarded by the excessive moist
ure in the air during the early fore
Moons.
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 on the 10th and pro-
duced cloudbursts in the mountain re-
gions of San Bernardino County, caus-
ing washouts In many places and in
juring to some extent the orchards of
that county.
On the 18th there were heavy electric
storms along the coast from Pacific
Grove to San Francisco. with heavy
rains at Salinas. Objects were struck
along the coast at San Francisco.
On the 10Th heavy thunder and light
ming storms passed over the southern
portion of Yolo County, with heavy
rains, lasting about fifteen minutes,
killing 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 there
passed over the town Of Marysville,
striking several buildings. On the
same day an extremely severe thunder
and lightning storm passed over the
mountain regions of Placer County at
Summit, Emigrant Gap, Blue Canyon
and Cascade, with hail falling to the
depth of nearly four inches. During
the week there were numerous thun-
der and lightning storms in the noun
tain regions of Siskiyou County, as we'll
as Modoc, Lassen and Plumas Counties,
which are all mountain counties.
Such storms as these are extremely
rare during the months Of July and Au-
gust, but they are frequently met with
during April, May, September and Oc-
tober, which is the beginning of the
changes of season from wet to dry and
from dry to wet.
A few years ago three severe electric
storms passed over Sacramento during
the afternoon and evening of one day
with heavy rain, which injured the dis
play Of art in the Art Gallery of the
State Fair in the Pavilion.
Severe electric storms in California,
outside the high mountain regions, are
of rare occurrence and seldom met with
along the coast or in the valley regions
of the crop producing portions of this
State during July and August, but the
mountain 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 has discoored
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 by the Oldest inhabitants
premonitions of early rains during the
coming fall.