Strong storms bring 21-degree temp drop, high winds

Workers from Affordable Paving battled both extreme heat and rain Wednesday to complete a parking lot along South Seventh Street in Ephrata. (Jonathan Foster / Staff)

A storm swept across Lancaster County on Wednesday, bringing relief from two 90-plus days but also causing a lightning fire and power outages.
According to the Weather Information Center at Millersville University, the temperature plummeted 21 degrees — from 96 to 75 — between 2 p.m. and about 4:30 p.m.
Lancaster's record high for July 18 was 100, set in 1977, according to AccuWeather.
Carl Erickson, an AccuWeather meteorologist, said storms that moved across the state traveled west to east and were aided by a cold front in the northern part of the state that mixed with the heat and humidity in the south.
Thursday will bring a scattering of showers and possible storms but none with Wednesday's intensity, Erickson said. Friday could bring more steady rain.
"There's still a lot of juice in the air," he said. And, expect mugginess.
Thursday's highs will be in the 80s and Friday's will be in the 70s, he said.
"Once that moves out of here, we're looking for a pretty quiet weekend" in the low- to mid-80s, he said. Skies should be partly cloudy, but no rain is expected.
Lightning from Wednesday's storm was blamed for a two-alarm fire at a Mount Joy apartment house.
The fire, which broke out at about 3 p.m., caused between $20,000 and $30,000 in damages to the building at 1047 Reagan St.
"It was definitely a lightning strike," Mount Joy Fire Chief Buddy Hess said.
The blaze was contained to the roof and attic.
Firefighters cut holes in the roof to vent smoke and heat, assistant fire chief Terry Bradley said, and one person was displaced because of minor water damage to an apartment.
The fire was put out within 20 minutes after firefighters arrived.
"Fortunately the fire company was out on another call when this one came in, so we were out right away," Hess said.
Hess said he called in a second alarm based on the size and construction of the building, as well as the heat and humidity that would "take a toll on the firefighters."
"My whole purpose for this, absolutely, was 100 percent firefighter safety," Hess said.
Aside from that, the storm brought little damage.