Weather service cancels Red Flag Warning as lightning storm pushes east

The National Weather Service reported Friday morning that about 1,100 cloud to ground lightning strikes occurred around California since Thursday evening, including about 110 in the Bay Area, but no major fires have been reported as a result.

The weather service had issued a Red Flag Warning for large parts of the North Bay and East Bay starting at 5 p.m. Thursday and the warning was expected to expire by 11 a.m. Friday. The warning was instead canceled around 8:30 a.m. Thursday as the storm pushed eastward away from the Bay Area.  

Along with the lightning, measurable rain was reported in the region, particularly in the North Bay, according to the weather service.

Because of the threat of lightning and extremely dry vegetation throughout the Bay Area, the weather service had warned that wildfires could spark, but that they didn’t expect a repeat of the August 2020 lightning storm that caused major wildfires all around the region.