While vacationers were wrapping up their travel plans, the state of California was witnessing a surge of electricity flowing through the air. According to a report by Yubanet.com, The Automatic Lightning Monitoring System (ALMS) detected over 1,300 lightning strikes within California on Memorial Day. Roughly, 734 of them were in National Forests. The Sierras were apparently the lightning rod for lightning bolts as the ALMS showed that’s where the majority of strikes took place.
The major concern for lightning strikes is the fires that result from them. In the U.S., over 22,000 fires per year are caused by lightning strikes. In California, 7 of the top 20 most devastating wildfires of all-time were caused by lightning strikes.
In August 2012, a lightning strike caused a massive fire in Lassen County that burned over 271,000 acres in California and another 43,000 in Nevada. It was the second largest recorded wildfire in the history of California. In total, of the 20 largest recorded wildfires in California, lightning caused over 1 million acres to be ravaged by fire.
With the drought, and millions of dead trees, wildfires are a major concern this summer season. Although, thousands of state firefighters are preparing for increased wildfires, nobody can predict when and where exactly a lightning bolt will strike.