California Wildfires in the State's Wine Country Ignited by Lightning (VIDEO)

Firefighters in California are working hard to control numerous fires.

Image and video courtesy: Accuweather.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Forecasters say a storm system that pushed into the Northwest touched off numerous thunderstorms across northern California on Saturday. According to Accuweather.com, the thunderstorms produced significant rain but also sparked lightning, igniting wildfires as the lightning bolts struck the extremely dry vegetation covering parts of northern California, predominantly in the state's wine country.

One of the biggest problems facing firefighters is the fact that rather than just a few spots, hundreds of wildfires were started by the lighting strikes, . The AP reports that this series of destructive fires in rain starved northern California.

One fire had reportedly scorched almost 6 square miles by early Sunday. That fire started the previous afternoon in Napa County and wasted no time reaching into sparsely populated Solano County.

More than 100 buildings have been threatened so far and one burned to the ground, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. By this morning, firefighters said the blaze was roughly 10 percent contained. Some areas will reportedly be evacuated as the blaze develops.

Meteorologist Kristina Baker with AccuWeather.com, says the lack of strong storm systems moving onshore will prevent thunderstorms from returning to California during the next few days.

She says that should give firefighters an opportunity to battle the blazes without the threat of thunderstorms igniting more fires. Unlike some fires in the past, high winds are not expected, and Baker says nothing more than an afternoon breeze will hinder these firefighter's efforts.

Unfortunately, the lack of storms invading the state also means the forecast does not include much-needed rain.

As reported by the Associated Press, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office stated Saturday that the lightning sparked nearly 400 fires from Monterey County to the border of California and Oregon. Monterey County is located along California's central coast, south of San Francisco. More than 60 of the fires were started in the Shasta-Trinity National Forecast.

Here is the SW Report with some of the latest on the wildfires burning in Northern California:

Video

Here is the NW Weather forecast from Accuweather.com:

Special thanks to Accuweather.com for this update.

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The story was non-specific of where exactly the fires were burning. Incomplete information. Unusefull.

levees are breaking, bridges are falling down, but u.s. bases in iraq are in full force. I could go on and on, but too tired tonite.

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