400 Fires Across N. California - 5,000 - 6,000 Dry Lightning Strikes Recorded In 24-Hour Period

[hatrack]

LOS ANGELES - Firefighters worked to contain some 400 wildfires burning across Northern California on Sunday as the state baked under a fourth day of an early summer heat wave that has strained the power grid and left residents wilted.

One structure was destroyed and 150 homes were evacuated near Fairfield, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Sacramento, in the path of the worst of the fires, which blackened more than 3,500 acres (1,416 hectares) in wine-producing Napa County. "The weather is, of course, very hot and dry here, and this fire quickly rolled up into some extremely steep terrain and became inaccessible. We're having trouble establishing control lines," said Battalion Chief David Shew of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

EDIT

"Those evil clouds are wreaking havoc across the state," Mike Jarvis, deputy director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said of the dry lightning. "There's no moisture in them and when they hit it's not like they put themselves out."

In a 24-hour period beginning on Friday, some some 5,000 to 6,000 dry lightning strikes were recorded across the region, leaving crews scrambling to keep up with spot fires.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/48958/story.htm

Ed. - "evil clouds"? WTF?

[gasperc]

1. there waiting for tonadoes in LA

like the scene from the movie, then they'll call it climate change, evil indeed

[Greyskye]

2. Evil Clouds

[tularetom]

3. Maybe they're gonna sacrifice a virgin

If they can find one.

There's a fire about 30 mi from here and the air is so thick with smoke your eyes burn

[XemaSab]

4. You don't have to tell us, Hatrack

This morning on the way out to the project site it looked like winter... cool and "cloudy." :P