Record heat in the west may be followed by dry lightning

lightning near hot springs, sd
Lightning near Hot Springs, South Dakota, July 23, 2012. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

(UPDATED at 3:46 p.m. MT, June 24, 2015)

Isolated Thunderstorms

Isolated dry thunderstorms (with little or no rain) are predicted for some areas in northeastern California, western Nevada, and central Oregon Friday and into early Saturday morning. Land managers are worried about the possibility of new lightning-caused wildfires.

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(Originally published at 9:59 a.m. MT, June 24, 2015)

Forecasters with the National Weather Service have published Special Weather Statements with warnings about extreme heat and lightning predicted for northern California, Oregon, and Washington beginning Thursday and through the weekend.

This interesting period will start with near-record, and record-setting heat on Thursday and Friday with high temperatures of 100 to 112 degrees in the valleys. Thunderstorms will be thrown into the equation starting on Friday, initially with little rainfall, raising the possibility for dry lightning. Later in the weekend there will be more moisture with the storms.

 

Alaska — 46,000 lightning strikes and many fires

(UPDATED at 12:22 p.m. MT, June 24, 2015)

Below is a list of fires in Alaska that are currently reported on InciWeb, sorted by size:

List of Alaska fires 6-24-2015

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(Originally published at 9:09 p.m. MT, June 23, 2015)

Alaska Lightning
From Alaska Climate Info: This map shows the number of lightnings strikes in Alaska and western Canada since Saturday. The grand total was over 46,000 strikes. An average season has about 110,000 strikes. On Sunday, the Alaska Division of Forestry said that the 14,000+ lightning strikes was an all-time record (1986-present). On Monday an equal amount of strikes were recorded.
Note: Data can be found here:

A Facebook page called Alaska Climate Info has some amazing, even shocking, images of 46,000 lightning strikes in the state between Saturday and Tuesday morning, and a map showing dozens of fires that are larger than 5 acres each.

Alaska Fires, June 23, 2015
From Alaska Climate Info: Reader Tracy asked if there was a satellite image showing the smoke across Alaska. This image was captured yesterday by the Soumi-NPP (SNPP) satellite. The smoke in Interior Alaska stands out as a milky white. The bright white areas are thunderstorms and other high clouds. Active fires are shown as yellow dots.

In the image below, I believe each tag is a wildfire.

And from the National Park Service, more information about lightning caused fires in Alaska:

Denali fires
From the National Park Service: “Following a lightning storm… five wildfires are now burning in remote locations in Denali National Park and Preserve. None of the wildfires are threatening park structures or sensitive resources. Due to the remote locations, fire managers have opted to monitor these fires. http://bit.ly/1TMJ0JA “

Lightning and Red Flag Warnings, June 10, 2015

wildfire Red Flag Warning, June 10, 2015Lightning, 24 hrs, 852 am June 10, 2015

 

The images above show Red Flag Warnings (on the left) that were current at 3:15 a.m. MDT, June 10, and lightning (right) for the 24-hour period ending at 8:52 a.m. MDT on June 10. The red icons represent the most recent lightning strikes.

Northern California, Washington, and Oregon can expect drier and breezy weather today with low humidities. With the lightning they received, it could be interesting there for firefighters over the next few days.

The map below, distributed by @BLMOregon Wednesday morning, was described as “lightning yesterday”. Click on it to see a larger version.

Lightning OregonThe next map shows Tuesday’s lightning in northern California — approximately 2,600 strikes, and 33 confirmed new fires in 6 National Forests as of Tuesday.

NorCal lightning

 

A lightning-struck tree on the Klamath

Lightning fire Photo

These photos of a tree that was struck by lightning were taken by USFS Forester Todd Drake on June 1 when he and his crew responded to a fire caused by lightning on the Klamath National Forest in northern California.

The amount of bark blown off by the strike is impressive. Sometimes the scar is only a few inches wide. This must have been a very powerful positive strike.

Lightning fire Photo

Lightning fire Photo

Lightning map, Monday morning

Lightning, 24 hours, ending 6 am MDT Aug 11
Lightning, 24 hour period, ending 6 a.m. MDT, Aug 11

The map shows the recorded lightning strikes for the 24 hour period that ended at 6 a.m. MDT, August 11, 2014. More lightning was expected in the northwest on Monday and Tuesday, the main reason for the red flag warning for Monday morning through Tuesday night in the northwest.

Research: storms on the sun can increase lightning on the Earth

solar flare

Here is something else to worry about. Researchers have found that intense solar storms on the sun can increase the amount of lightning on the earth. So….. does more solar activity mean more lightning-caused wildfires?

Here is an excerpt from an article at the BBC:

…”The solar wind is not continuous, it has slow and fast streams. Because the Sun rotates, these streams can be sent out behind each other – so if you have a fast solar wind catching up with a slow solar wind, it causes a concentration to occur,” said Dr Scott.

The scientists found that when the speed and intensity of the solar winds increased, so too did the rate of lightning strikes.

The team said the turbulent weather lasted for more than a month after the particles hit the Earth.

Using data from northern Europe, the researchers found there was an average of 422 lightning strikes in the 40 days after the high-speed solar wind arrived, compared with 321 strikes in the 40 days prior…

The finding was surprising, said Dr Scott, because it had been thought that an increase in the solar wind would have the opposite effect.

 
Thanks and a hat tip go out to Bean.