The Nation - News from Aug. 28, 1989

Hail as big as fists pounded the Midwest, but late summer remained hot, humid and uncomfortable in much of the South. Belleville, Kan., and Dorchester, Neb., received the hail ranging from the size of marbles to baseballs. In Paducah, Ky., it was 91 and the humidity was 73%, producing a heat index of 110--dangerous for anyone involved in strenuous outdoor work or play. It was even stickier in Ozark, Ala., where the heat index was 123. Thunderstorms also dropped small hail and heavy rains on North Dakota. Scattered showers and thunderstorms fell along the lower Mississippi Valley, the southern Atlantic Coast and the Texas coast. One thunderstorm dumped 1 1/4 inches of rain on Savannah, Ga., in an hour. Afternoon temperatures were in the 90s from Florida and the Gulf Coast to the Tennessee Valley, the lower Mississippi and Missouri valleys, eastern Kansas and the southern plains, as well as in the desert Southwest. The mercury climbed to 97 at Pensacola, Fla., breaking the city’s record high temperature for the date.