VIDEO: The National Weather Service is closely monitoring frequent lightning activity across Washington state this week, identifying it as the primary threat for sparking new wildfires. “Big lightning days where we get like hundreds or thousands of strikes, that’s usually this time of year,” said NWS meteorologist Logan Howard. That pattern held over the weekend, when about 1,700 lightning strikes were recorded statewide, including roughly 500 in western Washington. The activity ignited more than a dozen new fires in the Cascades, officials said.
โLightning is random. It oftentimes is way out in the wilderness on ridge lines and, you know, deep valleys within the Cascades or the Olympics that are very difficult to access on foot,โ said Mason Friedman, a wildfire and smoke meteorologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. Of the 16 large fires now burning in Washington, 12 were likely caused by lightning, according to the DNR. That includes the stateโs three largest blazes: the Rattlesnake, Lower Sugar Loaf and Crown Creek fires. “My biggest concern is that there is a lot of fire already on the landscape,” Friedman said. “We’re still getting new thunderstorms and new fire ignitions, and we’re expecting to see more of that.” The DNR reported 50 new fires across the state in just the past four days.
