LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Thunderstorms that have crossed over Northern California over the past day have been responsible for thousands of lightning strikes, according to state and federal officials.
Thunder rumbled over Lake County late Wednesday and early Thursday, with residents around the area reporting numerous lightning strikes during that time.
A lightning strike map released Thursday morning for California's National Forests (featured here courtesy of www.yubanet.com ), showed that for the 24-hour detection period from Wednesday at 6 a.m. to Thursday at 6 a.m., there were 5,213 lightning strikes reported across California, including 2,615 within the state's national forests.
That followed some 2,800 strikes the day before reported by Cal Fire, which on Thursday reported that those earlier strikes had caused 24 fires that burned 754 acres in northeastern California.
As of Thursday afternoon, no active lightning-caused fires had yet been reported in Lake County, where the hot weather has heightened fire conditions.
The heat wave that the county has experienced over the last several days is expected to lift somewhat as the weekend arrives, with an excessive heat warning to be in effect until 8 p.m. Thursday and a hazardous weather outlook also expected to expire.
Temperatures hovered around the century mark – or passed it – on Thursday, when Lakeport's Independence Day celebration was taking place.
Expectations are for cooler weather over the next several days, with highs forecast to be in the low to mid-90s.
Those slightly cooler temperatures will arrive in time for the annual Maxine Sherman fireworks display taking place in Clearlake Oaks Friday evening, and Clearlake's and Hidden Valley Lake's daylong celebrations set for Saturday, with a Saturday night fireworks display also planned at the Lakeport Speedway. Full details of those events can be found here: http://bit.ly/17vqPPG .
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.