Thunder, Lightning Hit Parts of County

Remnants of Hurricane Boris blew through Ventura County on Thursday morning, awakening residents with a spectacular display of thunder and lightning, National Weather Service officials said.

The hurricane, which slammed into Mexico’s southern coast two weeks ago, lost power and drifted back out to sea as a tropical depression and slowly worked its way northward, meteorologist Vladimir Ryshko said.

“It started rolling through Ventura County about midnight,” Ryshko said. “The last wave came through about 6 a.m. and that one was a pretty good thunderstorm.”

At its peak, Ryshko said, lightning strikes were occurring three times a minute as loud cracks of thunder rocked the county. Most of the activity was off the coast and over the Channel Islands, Ryshko said.

But several lightning strikes hit the mainland, including one in the Oxnard Police Department parking lot, narrowly missing a van.

“It hit right outside our radio room,” Sgt. Ron Whitney said. But no damage was reported, only frayed nerves, Whitney said.

Ryshko said the depression will continue its march up the coast but has cleared the county. He forecast a return to normal summer conditions today with temperatures in the high 60s and mid-70s along the coast and high 80s to low 90s inland.