Numerous wildfires erupted in the central and northern regions of California on Tuesday (Sept. 2) during an outbreak of thunderstorms and dry lightning that some meteorologists had warned would spark new fires and intensify existing blazes, according to The Washington Post.
The blazes spread quickly on Tuesday, while several large, intense forest fires have been burning in Northern California and in the Sierra Nevada over the past week.
The hazardous weather arrives after a hot Labor Day weekend that has further dried out a parched landscape during what is typically the peak of fire season in the state.
Dozens of fires ignited on Tuesday, so many that most were not initially given formal names but instead were identified by numbers. Many of the new blazes are in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, which Cal Fire has dubbed the TCU September Lightning Complex.
The most threatening of these are the 6-5 Fire and the 2-7 Fire, both of which have forced evacuation orders. With thunderstorms forecast Tuesday evening through Thursday, more blazes are likely, particularly in the mountains of Northern California.
