Lightning — Fresno, California

2024-06-24 · near Squaw Vly, Fresno, California

Event narrative

Dry lightning sparked several wildfires during the afternoon and evening of June 24 east of Reedley and Sanger. These fires became known as the Fresno Lightning Complex which resulted in several evacuations as the fires spread rapidly due to heavy fuel loading. The transmitter for KVPT Channel 18 was destroyed by one of the fires.

Wider weather episode

Moisture from the remains of Atlantic Tropical Storm Alberto wrapped around high pressure centered over the Desert Southwest the pulled up north behind it into central California on June 24 and 25. The result of this was thunderstorms which had little to no precipitation with them on both days. One cluster of thunderstorms produced dry lightning which ignited several wildfires east of Reedley during the afternoon of June 24 which became known as the Fresno Lightning Complex Fires.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.7456, -119.2836)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1179415. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.