By James Peters

1,500 lightning strikes in Kamloops region Wednesday; more on the way today

Jun 21, 2018 | 10:39 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops region saw about 1,500 lightning strikes in the past 24 hours, and Environment Canada says plenty more could be on the way today.

Meteorologist Lisa Erven says that lightning strike total was recorded in an area from 100 Mile House to Merritt north to south, and from Lillooet to Salmon Arm west to east.

“When I say 1,500 strikes, it’s not just one cell,” said Erven. “It was multiple cells that showed up over the Fraser Canyon, over the Nicola Valley, over the Kamloops region, up into 100 Mile House and then further east.”

A severe thunderstorm watch remains in place Thursday morning for the Kamloops area, as well as the Nicola, Shuswap, 100 Mile House and up into the Cariboo.

Erven says convection should activate the storm cells by the afternoon.

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“Those areas could see up to 25 millimetres in an hour if a cell was to move over a city, a town or a community,” said Erven.

“The threat is there for heavy rainfall amounts. Whether or not they end up falling over cities which have paved surfaces that could lead to flash flooding, that’s something we’ll have to watch and see.”

The lightning activity led to scores of new fire starts across B.C. Wednesday.