EMILY MESSER

A rash of wildfires burning across western Montana has been blamed, in part, on a large storm that produced hundreds of lightning strikes across the region last week.

While a single thunderstorm can cause anywhere from 8 to 150 lightning strikes in one small area, a series of storms can produce 7,000 to 8,000 across a region, according to Dan Borsum, predictive services meteorologist with the U.S. Forest Service Region 1.

As powerful storms moved through the area on Aug. 19, more than 300 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were detected across western Montana and parts of central Idaho, according to the National Weather Service. Lightning strikes are the main cause of wildfires in the Bitterroot National Forest, according to Matthew Young, deputy fire staff officer for the f

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