3,295 Lightning Strikes Recorded In Riverside County In 1 Hour

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Mother Nature put on quite the show Sunday night above the Southern California desert — shooting out nearly 3,300 strikes of lightning within just one hour. The National Weather Service recorded a total of 459 cloud-to-ground strikes and 2,836 cloud-to-cloud flashes between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. as a thunderstorm hit approximately 15 miles southeast of Indio.

"This is definitely a lot of lightening for the area," NWS Meteorologist Dan Gegoria told Patch Monday morning.

The lightning show was widely visible across the Coachella Valley. Viewers in the Banning and Beaumont areas had an amazing view for the duration, as well, as the sky continuously lit up with the bolts.

"More lightning [is] on the way this afternoon," the NWS said Monday on Twitter.

The remnants of Hurricane Rosa plus a winter storm were expected to drop a half inch of rain in the Coachella Valley Monday and nearly two inches of rain over three days in the mountains west of there.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for parts of Riverside County that begins at noon Monday and lasts through midnight. The service was warning that radar was observing thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the area Monday just south of Palm Springs and Indio.

The Riverside County Emergency Management Department on Saturday warned residents near Idyllwild and Lake Elsinore that rain in the Cranston and Holy fire areas could trigger mud and debris flows in locations where the vegetation was consumed by the fires.

"Powerful mixtures of mud, rocks, boulders and trees" could flow into streets, backyards and homes, depending on the speed and mass of the runoff, the department warned.

Much of the hurricane's moisture was dissipating Sunday as it moved into colder waters off the Baja California peninsula, NWS forecaster Ivory Small said.

Rosa was a Category 4 storm on Thursday, but had been downgraded to Category 1 by Sunday.

But enough moisture remained to prompt the NWS to issue a flash flood warning for the deserts and mountains of southeastern California and western Arizona.

Meteorologists say the storm will dump about an inch-and-a-half of rain in mountain areas, a half-inch in the Coachella Valley and a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch in some high deserts areas, such as the Morongo Basin, through Tuesday.

Riverside is expected to receive nearly a quarter-inch of rain through Tuesday, according to the NWS.

Prolific #lightning occurred with a #thunderstorm 15 miles SE of #Indo last evening between 7-8 PM: 459 cloud-to-ground strikes, 2,836 flashes! You don't get much more lightning than this in #California! More lightning on the way this afternoon. #cawx pic.twitter.com/4bcBlBRr2J
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) October 1, 2018

— City News Service contributed to this report / Photo by Renee Schiavone shows the lighting above the desert on Sunday night.