Lightning Maps, Satellites From Western Fires

UPDATE: We have some shots of the fire and smoke courtesy Photo Gallery user johnbas.

ORIGINAL REPORT:

Fox News published an article yesterday quoting the NWS and AccuWeather, saying that the fires in Northern California and Oregon sparked by lightning last weekend were "rare." These types of wildfire outbreaks are caused by "dry" thunderstorms which produce more lightning than rain. The storms themselves are not rare, but they are in that area this time of year. Below is a two-day animation of 2-hour lightning strikes each hour from June 20th at 11 AM to June 22nd at 3 PM.

The NWS said there were 8,000 lightning strikes which sparked over 800 fires in Northern California (Fox says in 2007, there were only 540 all year there). You can see the smoke from the fires on today's California Visible Satellite. Click below to play an animation of the last several hours. I have marked the areas of smoke (a light grey haze) and also fog, which is a whiter color and doesn't move).

For more updates on the fires, consult our Headlines (shown at right) and Breaking Weather News Page (PREMIUM | PRO).