derecho

MOST OF US NEVER HEARD OF “DRY LIGHT­NING” until re­cently. It is cloud-to-ground light­ning without any nearby rain­fall. A dry light­ning storm over Mitchell’s Cove in Santa Cruz, Cal­i­fornia, caused more than 10,000 bursts of light­ning be­tween Au­gust 15 and Au­gust 19, 2020, which in turn set off dev­as­tating wild­fires across Cal­i­fornia.