A Fire Weather Watch will go into effect in parts of the Bay Area beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday through 11 a.m. Friday over concern of potential dry lightning strikes.
While the projected storm is nowhere as large as the one that sparked fires across the Bay Area a year ago, conditions are so dry that a single lightning strike could ignite a fire.
"The good news is that we're going to be cooler here in the Bay Area while that heat continues across the Central Valley," said Roger Gauss with the National Weather Service. "But a really big concern is the potential for some thunderstorms to develop across the region later this afternoon and into the overnight hours."
Fire crews are prepared for the possibility.
"As some of the major fires are starting to look better on their containment, that's actually bringing resources back into the unit," said North Bay CAL FIRE Division Chief Ben Nichols. An extra Huey helicopter will go online on top of four additional crews returning to the area.
And lightning isn't the only weather concern this week. California's Idendepent System operator has extended a flex alert for a second day, calling for voluntary energy conservation between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
