Lightning Storms Rattle Southland : Scattered Strikes Set Grass Fires, Knock Out Electricity

Lightning, booming thunder, strong winds and some locally intense rain hit parts of Southern California on Monday as inland heating and unstable tropical air from Mexico collided to produce towering thunderheads over foothills, mountains and deserts.

The lightning set off at least half a dozen small grass fires in the Antelope Valley and another at Leo Carrillo State Beach near the Ventura County line, a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokeswoman said.

The early afternoon strikes temporarily knocked out power for an estimated 6,000 Southern California Edison Co. customers, mostly in Pomona and the Riverside County community of San Jacinto.

In the Pomona area, the National Weather Service said, nearly an inch of rain pounded down within a few minutes of 1:30 p.m. Lighter showers were reported from Oceanside and Palm Springs to the southern Sierra.

An Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Station deputy said lightning struck a power pole there, putting some lights out for a while.

Temple City, San Dimas and other foothill communities had only a little rain and thunder, but not much else to speak of.

The weather service said the pattern was “more like late summer than spring” and predicted that after some more thundershowers over mountain and desert areas as well as the San Gabriel and San Bernardino valleys Monday evening, the situation should settle down.

Cary Schudy of Earth Environment Service, a private San Francisco-based weather service, said today should not bring nearly as much in the way of showers, lightning and thunder. Today, he said, “should be the last day of it.”

Highs today should range from 65 to 72 at the beaches and from 78 to 88 in the valleys.

Monday’s high at the Los Angeles Civic Center was 76.