The fires in northern California may be over soon if the weather cooperates - but the region is due to have mostly “dry” storms with “virga” -a type of rain that doesn’t hit the ground.
“..Dry thunderstorms are those that produce virga.) A cloud that produces thunder, lightning, and rain are common in the western United States, but these clouds often do not have measurable ground-level precipitation. These dry thunderstorms are often culprits in creating massive wildfires as lightning ignites a dry fuel source on the ground during fire weather season (Usually in the hot summer months.” http://weather.about.com/od/v/g/virga.htm?iam=momma_100_SKD&terms=virga
Portions of a Yahoo News story below. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080629/ap_on_re_us/wildfires
Firefighters in a stalemate against California wildfires
1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Firefighters are making slow progress against more than 1,000 wildfires throughout Northern California as the region braces for more lightning storms.Authorities reported no new major fires Sunday morning and said crews had inched closer to getting some of the largest blazes surrounded.But a “red flag warning” — meaning the most extreme fire danger — was still in effect.And forecasters were predicting more thunderstorms similar to the ones that ignited hundreds of fires a week ago.The state Office of Emergency Services says the blazes have charred more than 556 square miles and destroyed more than 50 buildings.
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press
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