In the aftermath of this week’s lightning activity, twenty-two new wildfires had sparked in the Northeast, and one in the Northwest. None of these new fires are considered to be a threat to people or property at this time.
An information officer for the Prince George Fire Centre confirmed that despite Thursday’s high temperatures, calm winds throughout the day helped keep most of the new starts small and manageable for initial attack fire crews. In the northwest, fire crews made quick work of a new wildfire northeast of the Hazeltons, and it was declared under control by mid-day Friday, August 1st.
An Environment Canada Meteorologist confirmed to CFNR that Wednesday, July 30th and Thursday, July 31st were two of the most active days for lighting strikes in the Province so far this year – with 27,000 cloud and ground strikes on Wednesday, and 41,000 on Thursday. They also confirmed that this week has been an outlier in what has otherwise been a tame year for storms.
Over a 24-hour period on July 31st, 935 lightning strikes had been recorded within a 50kms radius of Fort St John, and 340 had been recorded within 50kms of Prince George. The second highest number of any day this year for Fort St John, and the third highest for Prince George.
Comments