California struck by lightning, rare thunderstorm
Lightning illuminates the sky over the eastern span of the Bay Bridge as a storm passed through the area in San Francisco, California.
A storm that brought dry lightning, heavy wind gusts and even some rain to the Bay Area has caused numerous large power outages in addition to vegetation fires.
According to Meteorologist Drew Tuma, The lightning strikes started Saturday in San Luis Obispo, moving up overnight. He says lightning strikes are also possible Monday morning, from about 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. Track the rain and lightning strikes with Live Doppler 7 here.
Step leaders branch out from cloud to ground lightning strikes as an early morning storm rips across the Santa Rosa plain near Healdsburg, California.
A rare summer thunderstorm brought lightning that sparked several small blazes in Northern California on Sunday.
The severe storm system rolled through the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas early Sunday, packing a combination of dry lightning and high winds that triggered wildfires throughout the region.
According to Meteorologist Lisa Argen, there were 326 lightning strikes in 30 minutes in the 6 a.m. hour.
Bay Area fire crews are working to put out several brush fires after the rare thunderstorms moved through the area Sunday morning. According to CAL FIRE many of the fires were sparked by lightning strikes.
This comes as the region braces for another day of intense, record-breaking heat after more rolling power outages affected hundreds of thousands of people.
The National Weather Service says it estimates 2,500 lightning strikes overnight, calling it "insane."
At one point early Sunday morning, more than 200 lightning strikes occurred in less than 30 minutes across the Bay Area. Wind close to 50 miles per hour were seen as these storms rolled through.
Even though it will be slightly cooler Sunday with the rain, clouds and possible thunderstorm, Argen says our inland heat looks to actually spike Monday and Tuesday.
A Red Flag Warning has been issued until 11 a.m. Monday for the threat of new wildfires starting because of these frequent lightning strikes.
