Yes, those were lightning strikes. No, it wasn’t a dream

More than 500 lightning strikes were recorded overnight in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, according to the National Weather Service.

“That’s pretty impressive for this part of the country,” said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The lightning strikes were recorded by a private detection network that tracks strikes that reach the ground, Kittell said. The highest volume of lightning usually occurs between clouds, he said, so the overnight storm likely produced far more lightning than was tracked.

Tucson-based Lightning Location and Protection Inc., reported that the lightning strikes ended in Los Angeles County at about 12:30 a.m. as the storm moved northwest.

The lightning was sparked by a cluster of thunderstorms that formed between Catalina Island and the mainland at about 11 p.m. Thursday, Kittell said. The storms also brought a scattering of rain, from trace amounts to about two-tenths of an inch in Ventura County valleys, he said. The rain was enough to prevent wildfires from erupting.

“It was quite a show. It went right over our office. We had the lights flicker a couple times,” Kittell said. “Fortunately, there was rain so it wasn’t a fire-starting concern. There was enough rain to quench those concerns.”

Orange County and the Inland Empire did not see any lightning activity overnight, said James Oh, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.

This morning, the storm system was headed northwest and out of the Los Angeles area and was already near San Luis Obispo as of 7 a.m., Kittell said. No rain is expected tonight, he said.

 molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com