Lightning from Pacific storm could spark new wildfires across the Northwest
Dry thunderstorms, gusty winds and lingering heat could spark new wildfires and rapidly spread existing blazes across the West into the weekend.
Anna Azillion breaks down why the 2026 El Niño could become the strongest since at least 1950, suppress Atlantic tropical development and influence U.S. weather into fall and winter.
Lingering heat, limited moisture and a storm moving in from the Pacific will increase the ongoing wildfire risk from Washington and Oregon to parts of Northern California, Idaho, Nevada, Montana and Wyoming into this weekend.
"While this storm could bring some late-night downpours, thunder and lightning to the Seattle area Friday night, it will kick up breezes and produce mainly dry thunderstorms across the region from Friday through the weekend," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk said.
"The breeziest spots will be along the eastern slopes of the Cascades, Siskiyous and northern Sierra Nevada," Houk said.
Lightning strikes from storms that produce little or no rain, combined with tinder-dry vegetation, will create ideal conditions for new wildfires to ignite and existing fires to spread quickly--a situation the Northwest has already seen this season with wildfires in Oregon where the AccuWeather Lightning Network has detected thousands of strikes per day during some of the most destructive fires.
Breezy conditions will allow burning embers to travel well away from the parent fire and potentially start new fires. Erratic winds can also make firefighting difficult and dangerous.
The winds will carry some of the smoke into British Columbia. Near existing fires and any new fires that develop, conditions may become hazardous for some individuals as smoke remains concentrated near ground level.
As of Thursday, Aug. 20, wildfires across the United States had burned 7.5 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. This figure is nearly 170% of the 10-year average to date.
Among the many large wildfires in the West so far this year, recent fires near Spokane, Washington, forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate, burned more than 10,000 acres and destroyed hundreds of homes.
While some improvement in fire conditions is possible across the western U.S. this autumn as storms from the Pacific become more frequent, a strong to record El Niño could boost storm intensity and increase rainfall and mountain snowfall. However, many weeks of moderate to extreme wildfire risk remain.
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