(From the latimes.com) Intense heat seared much of Southern California for a fourth straight day Thursday as subtropical moisture triggered thunderstorms that caused torrents of water to push mud and softball-sized rocks across roadways and block one the state’s main north-south arteries.

As inland areas baked under triple-digit temperatures, firefighters from Menifee in Riverside County to Tehachapi in Kern County responded to multiple small brush fires, officials said.

But the worst of the weather struck along U.S. 395 in Inyo County.

A strong afternoon thunderstorm caused a 4-foot-high wall of mud to block both lanes of the highway near the Coso Junction area, about 130 miles north of Los Angeles, according to witnesses and the California Highway Patrol.

Read more here: Intense heat sears Southern California for 4th day