South Still Sweltering; Lightning Kills Golfer as Heat Ends in East

Scorching temperatures afflicted the Southeast for a fourth straight day Wednesday, threatening livestock and crops, but thunderstorms broke the heat wave in the East, where lightning was blamed for at least one death.

Cooler air pressed down from the north, but its collision with the persistent hot air was marked by thunderstorms paralleling the Mason-Dixon Line. Temperatures Wednesday reached 103 degrees in Macon, Ga., 101 in Charlotte, N.C., and 100 in Norfolk, Va.

The high pressure system pinning the muggy air over the Southeast “will remain the dominant weather feature through the week,” the National Weather Service office in Atlanta said.

Four Injured

In the Washington, D.C., area, a line of violent thunderstorms unleashed lightning that killed one golfer and injured four others on a Virginia golf course. The storm, blamed on an approaching cold front, dropped the mercury from 86 degrees to 75 degrees in one hour in the nation’s capital.

Stuart Hunt, 23, of Annandale, Va., was pronounced dead at the Greendale Golf Course in Springfield, Va., and two of his companions were listed in stable condition at a hospital. Two others were treated and released.

The Southeast heat wave, dubbed a Bermuda High because of a high pressure system that pumps up heat from the Gulf of Mexico, aggravated drought conditions.

Virginia officials expect severe reductions in corn and other crop yields because of the heat. Agriculture Commissioner Mason Carbaugh said that half of the state’s corn crop could be lost.

Maryland Gov. Harry Hughes said that 20 of the 23 counties in which farms are afflicted by the heat and drought could be declared disaster areas.