Lightning, wind wreak a little havoc in region

Tuesday morning literally began with a bang for thousands in the region, with a mesmerizing lightning show. And while the sky view was visually captivating, the uncommon September storm wreaked a bit of havoc throughout the Sacramento area. The morning brought an uncharacteristic mix of wild, muggy weather seldom encountered this time of year with areas reporting very high winds, rain sprinkles, thunder and lightning. The lightning strikes were suspected of sparking several fires in the region. The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District recorded 59 lightning strikes in its jurisdiction by mid-morning. Fire crews encountered winds between 40-60 MPH as they battled numerous blazes they say were likely sparked by lightning and fueled by wind, such as the Brown Fire near Sloughhouse, which has burned about 60 acres and was 95-percent contained as of Wednesday. Still problematic is the 2-2 Fire in Stanislaus County near the Calaveras County line, which burned 3,462 acres as of Wednesday morning with zero containment, according to CAL FIRE. SMUD customers also encountered widespread outages by mid-morning, with about 11,000 customers in Sacramento County affected; at least 1,600 outages were reported in the Rancho Cordova area and were attributed to weather issues. In Placer County, thousands reported being without power, with PG&E reporting an outage affecting 5,039 customers from Rocklin, Lincoln and Loomis, with most customers' power restored by late morning. In Folsom, residents were awakened to thunderous booms and a spectacular lighting show. Folsom resident Cindy Stoeckle was awake in her home when she heard the thunder and went outside to check it out. "Outside it was so pretty," said Stoeckle. "Then more lightning. So I got ready with my phone and just hit the photo button multiple times!" Stoeckle captured a stellar lightning picture with her phone camera, which caught the attention of local media outlets: Her picture was published on KCRA and KXTV's websites, as well as The Folsom Telegraph. According to local meteorologists, more thunderstorms bringing potential rain and frequent lightning are forecasted in the afternoons in the Sierra and foothills through Thursday.