Unexpected Light Show

Yesterday in the early evening I took a little walk and when I reached the levee at Putah Creek and looked between the trees at the horizon towards the northwest, I saw a massive mountain-sized cloud, with a flat bit trailing off towards the north, and illuminated by occasional flashes. Since there wasn’t a cloud in the sky here at Davis, I wondered if this was smoke from a fire up in the mountains overlooking Cache Creek, up in the northwest corner of Yolo County. I returned to the house to get my binoculars, and walked out on the levee to get a better look.

The flashes illuminating the cloud were vivid orange, and one bolt stretching across the cloud proved that this was a lightning storm. I still wondered if there might be a fire associated with the storm, and certainly wanted to know where it was located, so I went back home to check online. Looked at the weather radar, I was amazed to discover that the storm was over the Trinity Alps and Scott Mountains, at least 200 miles from here. For all I know I was looking at a 50,000 foot cloud, and saw an eight-mile long lightning bolt.

It didn’t seem to cause any fires, at least according the fire incident sites I was able to find, such as this one from the USGS.