Such storms produce lightning and rain, but dry air will suck up most of the precipitation before it hits the ground.

CNN: Crews go on offensive against growing Colorado wildfire

Lightning started some, and a deadly combination of dry conditions fuelled them: high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds.

ECONOMIST: Arson suspected

At the nearby El Mirage Lake dry lake bed, the solar-powered Lightning Motorcycle set a new speed record for production motorcycles.

ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: self-sustaining homes, wooden wind turbines and the world's first solar-powered nation

We have a lot of dry fuels, we have continuing weather patterns bringing us lightning, so we definitely have those concerns.

NPR: Western United States Braces for More Wildfires

It's a bad sign for cattle ranchers in Nebraska and Wyoming, who are assessing the damage and facing difficult business decisions in the aftermath of lightning-sparked fires which rapidly burned across 70, 000 acres of dry grasslands.

NPR: Fires Scorch Nebraska Cattle Industry