Thundershowers Strike From Out of the Blue, Pelting Area With Rain and Hail
Strange weather came out of the blue in the Los Angeles Basin Friday with hail falling in Pasadena from thundershowers that spawned thunder and lightning and brief, heavy downpours in the east San Gabriel Valley.
Skies were mostly clear and sunny elsewhere in the basin.
“Lightning and thunder rocked the Police Department,” El Monte Sgt. Mark Sullivan reported. “Basically it was heavy rain, lightning and thunder.”
Sullivan estimated the midafternoon thundershower hung around for 45 minutes.
Kathryn Phillips, a free-lance journalist, said hail the “size of BBs” pelted her Pasadena home for about five minutes shortly after 1 p.m.
Meteorologist Michael Schlesinger of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, blamed the disturbance on a “very powerful” high-level, low-pressure system hanging around Nevada.
Schlesinger said the slow-moving front spun energy and moisture into Southern California, creating thundershowers when warm air at the surface rose to meet very cold air at upper levels.
He predicted good weather for the weekend, with mostly fair to sunny skies and high temperatures in the 60s and low 70s. A high of 71 degrees was recorded Friday at the Los Angeles Civic Center. The relative humidity ranged from 41% to 85%, according to the National Weather Service.
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