15,000 lightning strikes ignite dozens of Northwest wildfires. Here's where the smoke is going

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/15000-lightning-strikes-ignite-dozens-of-northwest-wildfires-heres-where-the-smoke-is-going/ar-AA288LXh

15,000 lightning strikes ignite dozens of Northwest wildfires. Here's where the smoke is going

Story by Anthony Edwards
Video and map at link

More than 15,000 lightning strikes across Oregon and Washington sparked dozens of wildfires Wednesday and Thursday, setting the stage for a smoke-filled weekend across the region.

The lightning outbreak was spurred by a low-pressure system off the coast that pulled monsoon moisture away from California but pushed it over the Northwest, where the moisture manifested as thunderstorms. Summer lightning is frequent in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but tens of thousands of strikes is uncommon.

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At least 100 fires were burning across Washington and Oregon as of Friday morning, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. More blazes were likely smoldering undetected, but were expected to emerge amid windier weather this weekend, in an area that was suffering from moderate to extreme drought.

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Smoke swallowed much of east-central Oregon and Washington. The air quality index dropped to the unhealthy category in parts of Crater Lake National Park and even reached the hazardous category in Spokane, Wash.

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Lightning strikes over Oregon's Cascades

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1. Track the fires

https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/usfs/map/#d:24hrs;@-100.0,40.0,4.0z