All of the seven largest fires in California history have occurred in the past five years, and four of those were caused by lightning.
Lightning strikes east of the eastern front of the McKinney Fire in the Klamath National Forest in California. A new study shows that dry lightning has ignited some of the most destructive and costly wildfires in California history.
Dry lightning was found to occur most frequently in July and August, the researchers found, though lower elevation regions tended to see activity peak later in September and October, when vegetation is even drier. “That is a lot of fires started by lightning, which are usually more difficult to attack because they tend to be more remote than human caused fires,” Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist and lightning applications manager at Vaisala, told CNN.
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