Lightning ignites fires in San Francisco Bay Area

August 17, 2020  |  7:21 p.m. PDTThe map shows some of the significant wildfires that have started in the last few days in the Bay Area. Updated August 17, 2020 with satellite heat data from 2:24 p.m.The map above is an updated version of the one below. The satellite heat data from 2:24 p.m. August 17 shows that the Canyon Zone Fires are growing rapidly toward the southeast and the west.The Deer Zone Fire west of Los Vaqueros Reservoir was also active on the south side, but not to the same degree. It was mapped at 1,161 acres.The Marsh Fire east of Milpitas was active at 2:24 p.m. Monday and has burned 1,775 acres.The three fires oddly named 5-14, 5-15, and 5-18 did not create enough heat to be picked up during the latest satellite overflight at 2:24 p.m. Monday. They are about 5 miles east of Pescadero.August 17, 2020 | 4:14 p.m. PDT The map shows some of the significant wildfires that have started in the last few days in the Bay Area. Updated August 17, 2020. Red and yellow dots indicate heat detected by a satellite.A rare series of intense summer thunderstorms passed through the San Francisco Bay Area Sunday morning and Monday morning. Some of the cells passed through so quickly there was little chance for precipitation. Lightning strikes during the 48-hour period ending at 12:59 p.m. PDT August 17, 2020. The yellow strikes are the most recent.Numerous wildfires ignited and while not all of them have been investigated, lightning is the likely cause for many. Combined with winds that accompanied the storms with gusts of 50 to 70, very high temperatures, and a Red Flag Warning, there are so many fires now that they are difficult to track, at least from this writer’s vantage point.The southern Bay Area has quite a few and there are others in the North Bay and Napa area.There is competition for firefighting resources. Some of the incident commanders placing orders for aircraft, dozers, engines, or crews are at times being told that a particular order can’t be filled at that time, or there may be a lengthy delay.From the Washington Post:In California, the heat resulted in scores of record highs over the weekend including around Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area and Sacramento. Early Sunday morning, a bizarre “heat burst” raised the temperature 20 degrees in two hours in Fairfield, about 40 miles northeast of San Francisco. The temperature shot from around 80 to 100 degrees in the hours around sunrise.The National Weather Service in San Francisco issued an unusually large severe thunderstorm warning that covered more than 7,000 square miles from Monterey Bay to the Bay Area and north into Napa Valley. The office warned of “erratic outflow wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph wind gusts, [and] frequent lightning.” The warning, the largest ever issued by that office, was six times larger than the state of Rhode Island.“This 20-year forecaster cant recall such a widespread [thunderstorm] event on the heels of such a heat wave,” wrote one meteorologist in the office forecast discussion late Sunday.We will add to this post later with more details about individual fires.
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Author: Bill Gabbert
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