When a wildfire meets a rainstorm

Hours after a fierce wind-whipped wildfire ignited in Mono County on Thursday afternoon, damaging homes, a storm rolled in, bringing with it much-needed precipitation.

- By Ciara HaRTER

THIS CAL FIRE photo captures the Pack Fire and a rainstorm converging—smoke against a bright blue sky and a rainbow emerging from a dark stormy sky.

(California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection)

But it wasn’t a coincidence that the two extreme weather events took place back-to-back.

Quick-moving wildfires can ignite on the eastern side of the Sierra right before a low-pressure system sweeps into the region in the fall and winter, according to UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain.