I keep obessive track of weather in the summer. Many summers, in fact most, there are thunderstorms that often have only lightning and little to no wetting rain. Since I Live surrounded by millions of acres of national and state forest, I am obsessive.
In SW OR there have been no thunderstorms at all for a long time. I don’t know if nothern is the same, but when the weather is ripe for t storms, it is usually not just very locally.
I hear you. We can get this weird dry thunderstorm thing in Colorado, lightning, no rain.