What does it look like when 10,800 lightning strikes spark 367 fires in the Bay Area and beyond? pic.twitter.com/dxDQEroey3. Said Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Chief Shana Jones at an afternoon press conference: “That was great news.”. Unfortunately now, as was the case in June 2008, the state's fire fighting resources will be stretched thin in the coming weeks as fire crews attempt to get a handle on all those lightning sparked fires which also means air quality issues due to wildfire smoke will be lingering issue as well. Vaisala Group meteorologist Chris Sky documented 24 hour loop of #lightning detection.In short: it was a close call for the #BayArea / #MontereyBay regions. Why would anyone move back? The lightning that did occur, she said, was far less than was anticipated. It was 85 degrees in San Jose, 72 degrees in Oakland and 69 degrees in San Francisco. In Antioch, the thermometer unofficially showed 88 degrees. “A lot of it is being driven by that trough,” King said. “The fires are going to keep producing smoke, so there’s nothing we can do about that,” meteorologist David King said Monday afternoon. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. PG&E lacked basic training before California blackouts, California’s record-breaking wildfires consume nearly 1 million acres in a month. In the interim, forecasters said they are not tracking any storms, and that the remnants of the tropical storm are not creating any individual storm cells similar to those that created such havoc last week. What does it look like when 10,800 lightning strikes spark 367 fires in the Bay Area and beyond? A Red Flag Warning is in effect for parts of the North Bay. She previously did investigative research and data reporting for Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting, and Kaiser Health News. Hundreds of lightning strikes were recorded, National Weather Service forecaster Drew Peterson said at 5 a.m. "We’re seeing nonstop continuous lightning across the Bay Area… The 53,262 total events over mainland #CAwx the last 3.5 days is about 9% of California's total annual #lightning. More promising news: The trough is expected to create wind that will blow from the southwest toward the northeast, and that pattern could take the smoke away from places where it’s been conglomerating, King said. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. Free access to maps of former thunderstorms. Stay weather aware as weak cells are still over the North Bay; however, most moisture has moved north of our area and instability has decreased giving us confidence to let the warning expire early.#CAwx pic.twitter.com/bG8PKPr6Sn. Our recent lightning storm has left a lasting impression on the Bay Area and the rest of California with more than 350 new lightning sparked fires from nearly 7,000 lightning strikes near the coast and inland on Sunday. The fires begin to show up in the hours after the storms in the “natural fire color” view. CLICK HERE if you’re having trouble viewing the video. Forecasters were concerned a flurry of lightning activity could result from a tropical storm moving through the Baja area of Mexico. All rights reserved. Click here for latest updates. More than 12,000 lightning the … A Spare the Air alert issued by the agency remained in effect through Wednesday. By 1 p.m. Monday, air officials with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District measured the fine particulate matter (or pollutants) at 201 in Pleasanton. #CAwx #FireWx @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/Ti9VPnGfu9. Rowan received her master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. On Sunday night, when the warning was in effect, the weather service tracked periodic strikes through the area, but Palmer said the heaviest of the lightning occurred in the Central Valley and in the Sierra Nevada. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. The event in many ways rivaled the one in June 2008 when more than 5,000 lightning strikes ignited dozens of new wildfires from the Central Coast to Interior Northern California. The weekend’s freak lightning storms were only the ignition. According to National Interagency Fire Meteorologist Nick Nauslar, there was a 48 hour window when over 350 lightning sparked fires started from nearly 7,000 lightning strikes in the region. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Temperatures remained relatively mild through much of the region, just as they were through the weekend. Watch: Here’s what 10,800 Bay Area lightning…, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), Bay Area weather: Red flag warning highlights new fire danger in North Bay, Watch: Here’s what 10,800 Bay Area lightning strikes sparking hundreds of wildfires looked like from space, PG&E expects to shut off power to 50,000 customers later this week, Fire officials: Discarded cigarette caused chaotic North Bay blaze. Vallejo and Napa, which at noon peaked with marks of 199 and 195, respectively, showed figures of 177 and 182. For the archives: 8/16/20 Lightning Siege Part II. 53,262 total lightning events of which 13,845 were cloud to ground strikes The better news was that the weather service cancelled around 9 a.m. a red flag fire warning for the region. Forecasters were concerned a flurry of lightning activity could result from a tropical storm moving through the Baja area of Mexico.