Rainy season starts with bangs, flashes

A week of desert-hot temperatures turned Miami-moody Friday morning as commuters awoke to a mix of lightning, thunder, scattered storms and even hail, marking the start of the year’s rainy season.

“For rainless Angelenos, this definitely was a shocker,” said Bill Patzert, a climatologist with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge.

But aside from rattled nerves and some pre-weekend excitement, the weather caused little or no major damage across Southern California.

Much of the impact was felt in north Orange County, where lightning set fire to several trees and power lines. More than 106,000 Southern California Edison customers in cities including Fullerton, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Brea were without power, said spokesman Charles Coleman. By noon, electricity had been restored to more than half of those homes. Fullerton College also shut down because of a power outage.

In Fontana, fire dispatchers said a man was taken to a hospital after lightning struck a crane he was touching. The unidentified man was injured at 9:42 a.m. at Sierra Avenue and Valley Boulevard, near Kaiser Medical Center, said Regional Dispatch Supervisor Donna Mueller.

Paramedics found him conscious and breathing, and he was able to stand, she said.

Elsewhere, there was little to report aside from more sluggish-than-usual traffic and winds that at times reached 30 to 40 mph. In Altadena, there were reports of marble-sized hail.

Los Angeles Fire Department officials remained on alert in the early evening as a storm cell that hovered over the San Gabriel Valley was expected to move west into the San Fernando Valley area. Communities affected by last year’s Station fire -- Sunland, Tujunga and Lake View Terrace -- could be vulnerable to flooding.

“We’ll continue to observe it as the weather goes through,” said spokesman Erik Scott.

Thunderstorms were expected to move west toward the mountains of Ventura County later Friday, said Eric Boldt, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

More showers are forecast Saturday, and cooler weather should move in starting Sunday, Boldt said.

The current storm system has been caused by hot and moist air pumped north from Mexico.

“For weather geeks it was a huge treat, and for car washers I’m sure it will be a huge treat tomorrow,” Patzert said.

esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.