Roughly 1,500 lightning strikes were recorded overnight Thursday and into Friday morning from southern Washington to Northern California, according to the National Weather Service in Portland.
Combined with gusty winds and dry weather, NWS Portland has put a swath of the Columbia River Gorge from east Clark County to Hood River, Ore., and north to Mount St. Helens and beyond under a Red Flag Warning. A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly.
“Poor overnight humidity recoveries and gusty east winds will continue to produce locally critical fire weather conditions this morning through the Columbia River Gorge and surrounding higher terrain,” NWS said on its website. “A slight chance of thunderstorms will also continue through later this morning from Mount Hood National Forest through the South Washington Cascades.”
