Fast-growing wildfires continue to plague northern California, leading to evacuation orders, highway closures and event cancelations — as the threat of "dry lightning" prompts red flag warnings to be issued across the state for Sunday.
The latest: A red flag warning is in effect across the Northern Rockies, which are currently engulfed in a heatwave that threatens to spark new fires.
Red Flag Warnings have been issued for Monday across the Northern Rockies. Isolated thunderstorms are expected to produce gusty and erratic outflow winds. #IDwx #MTwx pic.twitter.com/bIemzHJkfS
— NWS Missoula (@NWSMissoula) July 18, 2021
The big picture: A red flag warning is in effect for the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon, currently the largest wildfire in the United States — which grew even larger Sunday to a whopping 476 square miles, about the size of Los Angeles, AP reports....
- The Bootleg Fire is about 22% contained, as of Sunday afternoon, per InciWeb.
- The Tamarack Fire, south of Lake Tahoe near the Nevada border, is among 70 large fires burning across more than a million acres in the United States, including nine in California.
- It comes as another heat wave grips the country, this time with the intensity focused on the northwest and northern areas.
- Many of the wildfires started amid an unprecedented heat wave that scientists say was driven by human-caused climate change.
- As of yet, the largest wildfire on record this year is the Beckwourth Complex Fire, which has scorched 92,988 acres and was only 66% contained,