It’s officially summertime in Southern California, and to mark the change of seasons Mother Nature delivered some thunderstorms to the region.

Those thunderstorms, caused by some monsoon moisture that moved into our area overnight, are bringing scattered rain showers and some dry lightning with them. The cloudy weather is also accompanied by a heat wave that will stick around through the end of the week.

Here’s what to know about Wednesday’s forecast.

Showers are possible in parts of SoCal through the early afternoon, thanks to some monsoon flow. There’s also some dangerous lightning, which could cause some fires. Belen De Leon has the forecast for Wednesday, June 22, 2022.

Monsoon Flow and Thunderstorms

An area of high pressure over the middle of the country on Tuesday, along with an area of low pressure right off the West Coast, is funneling monsoon moisture from the Gulf of Mexico up over California.

That means increased humidity and more cloud cover for Angelenos.

The heat from peeks of sun and the humidity in the region are the critical ingredients to create thunderstorms, which started moving into the area just after midnight going into Wednesday.

There are also some rain showers and gusty winds in the forecast.

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The amount of rain will vary depending on location, with some parts of SoCal set to stay dry and other facing the possibility of a quick 1/4 of an inch of water.

Rain, wet roads and dark conditions mean drivers should beware during their morning commute, especially in the Newhall Pass area where the thunderstorm passed through just after 6 a.m.

Long Beach also saw some early morning rain, and a heavy storm cell was forming over Pasadena just after 8 a.m.

The mountains and deserts will see bigger storms Wednesday afternoon, with the possibility of blowing dust in the deserts.

As temperatures cool down in the evening, the thunderstorms should dissipate as the heat disappears.

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Lightning

With thunder comes lightning, which unfortunately won’t mesh well with the dry conditions on the parched West Coast.

While lightning strikes are rare in Southern California, they occurred frequently with over 3,700 lightning strikes recorded in the region. A lightning strike caused a power outage on the Cerritos College campus in Norwalk, forcing officials to close the school for Wednesday.

Combined with the gusty winds present in the thunderstorms moving over the LA area, the lightning creates a greater risk of wildfires in the region.

Much of the lightning appeared over the San Fernando Valley and over the LA County mountains. Lancaster also saw heavy rain and a number of lightning strikes.