Wildfire — North Bay Mountains, California

2020-09-01 to 2020-09-30 · North Bay Mountains, California

Event narrative

The LNU Lightning Complex fires continued to burn through the month of September before being extinguished in early October https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/17/lnu-lightning-complex-includes-hennessey-gamble-15-10-spanish-markley-13-4-11-16-walbridge/. A total of 363,220 acres burned with 232 structures damaged and over 1491 destroyed along with 5 fatalities (3 in Napa County and 2 in Solano County) including civilian and fire personnel across all counties. The LNU complex fire is now the 4th largest wildfire in California state history.

Wider weather episode

Continued periods of gusty offshore winds, dry conditions, and hot to record breaking temperatures allowed the August lightning fires to burn throughout the month of September. Persistent dry conditions across the hills and above normal temperatures made fire fighting efforts difficult with relatively poor humidity recoveries for much of the month.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 918122. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.