Lightning kills 3 in Calif., Va.

LOS ANGELES, June 4 (UPI) -- Lightning has been blamed by authorities for killing two women in Southern California and a boy playing baseball in Virginia.

The Washington Post reported Thursday 12-year-old Chelal Matos of Spotsylvania County died after being hit by a lightning bolt while playing catch with an 11-year-old boy Wednesday evening on a ball field near Fredericksburg, Va. The younger boy was critically injured, the newspaper said.

The incident occurred after umpires had called off a game and ordered players off the field. Authorities said the two boys stayed on the field under parents' supervision.

The storms also caused hail, high winds that knocked down trees, flash flooding and power outages in northern Virginia. The National Weather Service was trying to determine whether a tornado touched down in Page County, Va., the Post said.

Police in California said a 40-year-old woman died when a lightning bolt struck her outside a home in Fontana Wednesday afternoon, KTLA-TV in Los Angeles reported. Another woman, Elena Martinez, 31, died earlier Wednesday when lightning struck a tree and a branch hit her car near Big Bear Lake, the Los Angeles Times said.

AccuWeather.com said an unusual weather pattern, a large pocket of cool air, was causing storms from Idaho south. The system was expected to remain in place through Friday.

In the Sacramento area, lighting was almost continuous Wednesday night and early Thursday, The Sacramento Bee reported.

"There were periods when we didn't have a break between lightning flashes. That's pretty unusual for here," said Mike Smith, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

In Oakland, a Southwest Airlines plane hit by lightning after it took off bound for Burbank returned to the airport Wednesday.

Around Los Angeles, lightning strikes set off a number of brush fires in the national forests in the dry hills, the Times said. The largest, known as the McKinley Fire, covered 150 acres by the time it was brought under control, the U.S. Forest Service said.