Dry lightning strikes cause widespread fires across Eyre Peninsula

A band of dry lightning strikes across the West Coast and Lower and Upper EP sparked 35 fires yesterday, with 12 ongoing into last night.

Much of the activity was located west of Ceduna, south of Elliston and north of Wudinna.

Across the state, CFS crews, along with aerial support, responded to nearly 60 grass and stubble fires.

Within a three hour period, between 5pm-8pm Thursday night, more than 20,000 cloud-to-ground lighting strikes were recorded across SA, according to Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jon Fischer.

In the past 24 hours, he said this increased to 57,000 strikes across the state, with most on EP, Yorke Peninsula and the Mid North.

However there was not much rain associated with these storms, with less than 1 millimetre across most of EP, while the highest tallies were seen in the Mid North and Mount Lofty Ranges, between 5-10mm, and 11mm at Spring Gully, south of Clare.

Mr Fischer said the storm activity had contracted into the Flinders Ranges and North East Pastoral area, which was where the highest risk would be today.

He said while temperatures had reached 41 degrees Celsius at Wudinna and Minnipa on Thursday, the trend was for below average temperatures for the coming days until news years, when they would return closer to average temperatures.

In the meantime, the biggest risk for the fires on EP was wind activity, which was expected to ease from Saturday.

"Conditions are slightly more favourable for getting on top of fires but there are still some winds," he said.

There is potential for more rain from Wednesday onwards with clearing showers and thunderstorms.

A CFS spokesperson said there were still 150 crews on about 50 appliances responding to the fires in Region 6, on EP and the West Coast.

Preliminary estimates put the area burnt at about 550 hectares as of 9am Friday, but this was expected to increase.

With a number of incidents still going in the region and across the state, the CFS asks the public to be vigilant, continue to monitor conditions, and stay informed.

CFS state duty commander Raymond Jackson said it was particularly important that travelers stay vigilant during the long weekend.

"We know this summer has been wetter and cooler than first predicted, but after today's weather and fire activity, we urge everyone not to become complacent and to stay informed, by monitoring the conditions in your region," he said.

"Many South Australians are planning to take advantage of the long weekend, so know the risk in the area you are travelling to or through by checking the fire danger ratings on the CFS websites."