Western Canada lightning strikes up tenfold, stoking fires

Vaisala Oyj

02/07/2021 23:09

By Moira Warburton
    VANCOUVER, July 2 (Reuters) - Lightning strikes in Western
Canada over the past two days soared nearly ten-fold from the
same time a year ago, triggered in part by a record-breaking
heat wave, meteorologists said, warning of more strikes over the
weekend that could further stoke forest fires fanned by high
winds.
    Over 710,000 lightning strikes were recorded in British
Columbia and western Alberta between 3 p.m. on Wednesday and 6
a.m. on Thursday, up from an average 8,300 from the same period
over the past five years, said Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist
with Vaisala, a global environmental measurements company which
collects the data.
    The Pacific province of British Columbia has been recovering
from the grip of an unprecedented heat wave during which the
town of Lytton broke Canada's 80-plus year old heat record with
a 49.6°C (121.28°F) temperature this week. A forest fire that
started on Wednesday razed Lytton to the ground. The cause of
the fire was under investigation.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2OD1P1
    British Columbia usually accounts for about 5% of Canada's
total lighting strikes each year, but it has reported its annual
number in less than 48 hours, Vagasky said.
    The figure is comparable to "what you would typically see on
some of the bigger lightning days in really lightning prone
regions of the United States, like Texas or Oklahoma," Vagasky
said, and is unheard of for a region like British Columbia.
    The high number of lightning strikes was caused in part by
the heat wave, which created high levels of moisture in the
atmosphere in the form of melting snow and evaporation of water
from vegetation, said Jonathan Bau, a meteorologist with
Environment and Climate Change Canada.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2OC227
    The moisture fueled the unusually fierce thunderstorms.
    "We're not in the middle of summer where everything's dried
out," Bau said, adding that more lightning was forecast for the
weekend.
    The strikes caused several forest fires across central
British Columbia, with 136 fires burning as of Friday afternoon,
B.C. officials said at a briefing.
    The fires are expected to burn through 100,000 hectares
(247,105 acres) by the end of the weekend, officials said, a
significantly higher figure than by this point in previous years
- B.C. does not usually see its forest fire season ramp up until
late July.
    Over 1,300 homes have been ordered evacuated, and it is not
known how many people are missing. The Red Cross is running a
phone line for family reunification, officials said.

 (Reporting by Moira Warburton in Vancouver
Editing by Denny Thomas and David Gregorio)
 ((Moira.Warburton@thomsonreuters.com; 416-687-7996;
437-771-3124;))