Farther south and east are the wispy remnants of Tropical Storm Marco. On August 25, NASA’s GOES-West satellite watched as hazy gray smoke emanating from hundreds of wildfires in California drifted eastward, while Hurricane Laura barreled toward Louisiana and Texas. Science News takes a closer look at what causes these kinds of extreme weather events, and the extent to which human-caused climate change may be playing a role in each of them. But for some of these events, such as intense hurricanes and more frequent wildfires, scientists have long warned that climate change has been setting the stage for disaster. In part, it’s just bad luck that the United States is being slammed with these events back-to-back-to-back. 10 “derecho,” a sudden, hurricane-force windstorm.Įach of these extreme weather events was the result of a particular set of atmospheric - and in the case of Laura, oceanic - conditions. Meanwhile, farmers are still assessing widespread damage to crops in the Midwest following an Aug. Gulf Coast on August 27, fires continued to blaze in California. “Most of the activity is winding down right now and is moving to the east, and any lingering thunderstorm potential today will be mostly over the northern sierra south of I-80,” Del Valle said.īut the fires they started remain and once the storms passed, the winds picked up.įor both the two largest fires burning in California - the Dixie and Caldor - windy conditions are expected Friday.August 2020 has been a devastating month across large swaths of the United States: As powerful Hurricane Laura barreled into the U.S. Now the overactive electric activity is coming to an end across the state. The lightning is winding down and the winds are picking up This makes ‘dry thunderstorms’ much more likely during a drought year.” “When a major drought is in place, like in California now, there is significantly less water and moisture in the ground and thus in the atmosphere via a lack of evaporation. “Droughts are part of a vicious cycle that reinforces itself,” CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller says. This activity is all due to climate change-fueled drought. wo05Iz7JDz- CAL FIRE AEU September 10, 2021 Lightning from heavy storm cells passing through the northwestern part of El Dorado County started the largest on Kanaka Valley Road in Rescue. “Lightning from heavy storm cells passing through the northwestern part of El Dorado County started the largest on Kanaka Valley Road in Rescue.”įirefighters were diverted from the Caldor Fire to fight multiple lightning fires late last night throughout El Dorado County. “Firefighters were diverted from the Caldor Fire to fight multiple lightning fires late last night throughout El Dorado County,” tweets Calfire. In the Sacramento area “we saw most of the activity over the central and southern Sacramento Valley and portions of the mountains including the Caldor Fire area,” Idamis Del Valle, a meteorologist with NWS Sacramento, told CNN Weather. Unfortunately, that was the case Thursday night. “Many of the largest wildfires in California history were sparked by cloud to ground strikes.” “Lightning in California creates significant wildfires every year,” Myers says. “For many outside of the western states, lightning means heavy rain, and although some storms do bring rain, many are considered dry storms that don’t produce enough rainfall to extinguish the fire that was created,” explains CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. While many of these storms brought some beneficial rain to the drought-stricken region, like in San Francisco, many of them were ‘dry thunderstorms.’Ī dry thunderstorm happens when the air the rain falls into is so dry the rain evaporates before it hits the ground.
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