Rare summer thunderstorms that swept across Northern California early on Sunday shook residents across the area with live lightning and also inflicted dozens of burn wounds across the area.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said more than 2,500 lightning strikes were recorded in the Bay Area and along the Central Coast, leaving a spectacular view in the air.
“This is probably the most widespread and violent summer storm in memory for Bay Area, and it’s also one of the hottest nights in years,” he said. tweeted Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
CALIFORNIA HIT AT ‘FREQUENT LIGHT’ WHEN SEVERE WEATHER SLAMS BAY AREA, SPARKS NEW FIRES
Forecasters said that moisture from a tropical storm offshore burned the storms, which brought nonstop lightning strikes early Sunday, some of which ignited small fires and swept power over the San Francisco Bay Area.
A rare lightning storm crawls across Mitchell’s Cove in Santa Cruz, California at 3 a.m. Sunday morning, August 16, 2020.
(Shmuel Thaler / The Santa Cruz Sentinel via AP)
“We had fairly constant skyscrapers and strikes,” NWS meteorologist Anna Schneider told local Patch media group. “It’s pretty unusual.”
A lightning strike hit the surrounding hills at Marsh Creek Road in Brentwood, California, on Sunday, August 16, 2020. A severe lightning storm caused several fires near the Round Valley Regional Preserve and Morgan Territory Regional Preserve over the weekend.
(Jose Carlos Fajardo / Bay Area News Group)
Lightning that started at 3 a.m. then started triggering burns in the area.
‘I have not seen such lightning since I was a child. It was at least every minute like a strike, “John Curtis, who lives in unincorporated Clayton, told KTVU.
A CHP officer is targeting traffic on the corner of Marsh Creek Road and Deer Valley Road as a vegetation fire burns in the distance in Brentwood, California, on Sunday, August 16, 2020.
(Jose Carlos Fajardo / Bay Area News Group via AP)
Wind gusts in the area also reached 75 mph, according to the NWS, which said another round of lightning could develop Monday morning.
Smoke from a vegetation fire caused by a lightning bolt rises in the sky as seen from Marsh Creek Road in Brentwood, California, on Sunday, August 16, 2020.
(Jose Carlos Fajardo / Bay Area News Group via AP)
Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Northern California saw 39 new fires on Sunday morning.
BLISTERING HEAT ROASTS WEST WITH WIDESPREAD STORMS
Some of the fires reached hundreds of acres, including the Deer Zone Fire in Contra Costa County.
A severe lightning storm caused several fires near the Round Valley Regional Preserve and Morgan Territory Regional Preserve. Firefighters scrambled to contain multiple extinguishers, triggered by widespread lightning strikes across the region, as a statewide heat wave continues.
(Jose Carlos Fajardo / Bay Area News Group via AP)
In Monterey County, the River Fire grew to 2,800 acres, with five homes destroyed and Monday morning, 1,500 structures were threatened.
Compulsory evacuations are taking place in areas south of Salinas for the flame, which contains only 10%, according to Cal Fire.
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Over the weekend, many areas of the state saw triple-digit temperatures, and the combination of prolonged heat and smoke from fires sent ozone pollution to levels not seen in an area in an area.
A red flag warning remains Monday over the Bay Area as more storms are expected.
Temperatures in California will reach 110 degrees or more from inland southern California north to Sacramento on Monday, as excessive heat warnings and watches have been issued.
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In the southern part of the state, more than 4,500 buildings remained threatened by Lake Fire fires burning to thick, dry brush in the Angeles National Forest.
Firefighters are already battling the blaze in steep, rugged terrain with scorching heat for more obstacles as hundreds of lightning strikes and winds up to 15 mph shoot the flames upward.
“We put a contained line at the top of the hills so that the fire did not overflow to the other side and cause it to spread, but it was apparently difficult considering the wrong wind and some other circumstances,” said fire spokesman Jake Miller. of the Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
