FILE: Dark clouds fly over the skyline in San Francisco. A chance of thunderstorms from monsoonal moisture is in the forecast.

A shifting weather pattern in California could bring dry lightning to the Bay Area, along with a risk of rain and thunderstorms in the Sierra Nevada.The change could seriously increase the risk of fire danger in the region as hot weather has dried out grasses and other wildfire fuels, leaving them prone to ignition. 

The risk of dry lightning is due to a ridge of high pressure currently building over the Rocky Mountains, which is forecast to pull subtropical moisture from the Gulf of California northward. 

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Roger Gass, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Bay Area office, said the current models show there will be high cloud cover over the marine layer in the........

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