...1917... After a very dry spring and summer, a thunderstorm with little rain produced frequent lightning strikes in Trinity County, California. Lightning was reported to have struck 150 times in an area of 5 square miles. 80 forest fires were started. A warden said that the country "looked like a vast Christmas tree as various trees blazed into light on being struck".

...1927... 1.98 inches of rain fell at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the old record of .90 set in 1912.

...1950... At Newport, Rhode Island .70 inches of rain fell in one hour, setting the record high for the date; the previous high was .04 inches set in 1948.

...1953... The low temperature at Newport, Rhode Island dropped to 54 degrees, setting the record low temperature for the date. It was later tied in 1953, 1964 and 1965.

...1954... Mount Rainier in Washington State was still covered with sixteen inches of snow at the 5500 foot level following a big snow season.

...1975... At Newport, Rhode Island a three day 90+ degrees began on this day. The high temperature of 91 degrees was recorded, breaking the record of 89 degrees set back in 1939 and 1955. The dew point was a very steamy 79 degrees, breaking the record of 74 degrees set in 1971 and it was tied for the second highest dew point recorded at the station and the heat index was a hot 102 degrees, breaking the old record of 93 degrees set in 1957.

...1976... The barometric pressure dipped to 29.44 inches of mercury at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the old record of 29.60 inches in 1970.

...1983... A thunderstorm at Andrews Air Force base in Maryland produced a microburst wind gust to 149 mph. Air Force One, with President Reagan on board, had landed less than 10 minutes before the microburst.

...1985... A nearly stationary thunderstorm deluged Cheyenne WY with rain and hail. Six inches of rain fell in six hours producing the most damaging flash flood of record for the state. Two to five feet of hail covered the ground following the storm, which claimed twelve lives, and caused 65 million dollars property damage.

...1986... A powerful thunderstorm produced 100 mph winds and large hail in eastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri causing 71 million dollars damage, and injuring nineteen persons. It was one of the worst thunderstorms of record for Kansas. Crops were mowed to the ground in places and roofs blown off buildings along its path, 150 miles long and 30 miles wide, from near Abilene to southeast of Pittsburg.

...1987... Record heat gripped parts of the Midwest. A dozen cities reported record high temperatures for the date, including Lincoln NE with a reading of 105 degrees, Moline IL with an afternoon high of 103 degrees, and Burlington IA with a reading of 102 degrees.

...1988... Two dozen cities in the Upper Midwest reported record high temperatures for the date, including La Crosse WI with a reading of 105 degrees. Highs of 103 degrees at Milwaukee WI and South Bend IND were records for the month of August.

...1989... Hurricane Chantal made landfall along the Upper Texas coast about sunrise. Chantal deluged parts of Galveston Island and southeastern Texas with 8 to 12 inches of rain. Unofficial totals ranged up to twenty inches. Winds gusted to 82 mph at Galveston, and reached 76 mph in the Houston area. Tides were 5 to 7 feet high. The hurricane claimed two lives, and caused 100 million dollars damage.

...1993... San Francisco, California hit 98 degrees -- the hottest August reading ever recorded for the city

...1998... Austin, Texas recorded both a record high temperature (104 degrees) and a record low temperature (65 degrees) on this day -- one of only a handful of locations ever to record a record high and low temperature in the same calendar day.