JUNCTION CITY, Calif. — Scattered showers that were forecast for California’s northern mountains Sunday were unlikely to extinguish wildfires that still threaten homes and could bring more lightning to the charred region, fire officials said.
The weather system was not expected to bring enough rain to have any effect on several huge blazes that have burned for nearly a month, said Pete Munoa, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
A bigger concern was the thunderstorms predicted to accompany the system. But fire officials said cooler temperatures mean lightning strikes don’t pose as much of a threat as they did a month ago, when storms sparked 2,100 fires.
All but 34 of the fires have been contained around the state, leaving nearly 1,470 square miles of destruction in what officials call the largest fire event in state history.
