In spite of the weather forecast, the lightning predicted for Southwest Oregon on Sunday didn’t really pan out, but portions of other western states received thousands of strikes. Firefighters may have some followup to do in Northeast Montana, Southwest Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, the Sierras in California, and states in the Great Plains.

During the rest of this week Southern California will likely experience temperatures much higher than normal, possibly setting a few daily records. Weak hot and dry sundowner winds could occur near Santa Barbara bringing compressional heating and high fire danger.

Here’s more weather information from the National Interagency Fire Center, issued July 23:

A critical fire weather scenario will begin to set up as shards of monsoonal moisture begin to filter further into the Pacific Northwest and the Northern Rockies. These storms, while still isolated, will be dry and should trigger new starts as the stage begins to set for the next few days after [Monday], which should be pretty convective.