Overnight storm lights up Bay Area skies; sparks house fire in East Bay

By Tim Fang

A weather system brought lightning to parts of the Bay Area and Central Coast late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, with a lightning strike sparking a house fire in the East Bay.

According to the Contra Costa Fire Protection District, firefighters were called to a home under renovation on Anderson Avenue in Brentwood around midnight by construction workers who were sleeping inside the residence. Firefighters said lightning struck a weathervane on the roof, setting the attic on fire.

Crews were able to put out the fire before it could spread to the rest of the home. No injuries were reported.

In a forecast discussion posted around 4:20 a.m., the San Francisco office of the National Weather Service said lightning detection networks recorded more than 3,000 lightning strikes in the region over the span of 12 hours.

Much of the storm activity early Thursday appeared to be concentrated in the South Bay, the Santa Cruz Mountains and down into Monterey and San Benito counties, with some locations recording brief heavy rain, gusty winds up to 30 miles per hour and small hail. The amount of rainfall ranged from a trace in some locations, to 0.75 inches in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Lightning was also spotted in other parts of the Bay Area, including in Solano County and on the Peninsula.

Forecasters said the chance of showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue through Thursday morning, with conditions gradually clearing in the afternoon.