It's often the case that persistent and extreme weather in one region of the United
States is balanced by persistent and extreme, but opposite, weather in another portion
of the nation. While many residents of the Midwest struggle to cope with
unprecedented rainfall and record river flooding, residents in the western third of the
nation desperately wish the skies would open. They've been locked in a withering
drought that, in some locations, is now in its seventh year. As of June 13, 13 large
forest fires and literally hundreds of small fires were in progress from California to
Colorado. Flow rates in large western rivers (like the Colorado River) are nearing
historic lows, and, after a very dry winter and the driest May on record in California,
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared an official statewide drought, the first such
designation since 1991.
'DRY THUNDERSTORMS' TORCH WESTERN FORESTS
Only very rarely are lightning ground strikes responsible for fires in the normally
well-watered forests of the eastern United States. It's a different story in the West.
There, thunderstorm rainfall, even in the best of times, is of limited extent, and
lightning often strikes outside a storm's precipitation area.
--By Richard Koeneman, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist
WGN-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center staff provide daily coverage of weather in the Chicago area.
