Today's thunderstorms brought as much lightning as I have seen in years around western Washington: at least several hundred strokes, in stark contrast to our normal lightning-deficient precipitation.
Some of the thunderstorms brought strong winds, gusting to 40-70 mph, as illustrated by the gust map for the past 12-hours. A few exposed mountain ridges got to 70-80 mph.
Strong wind brought falling trees and damage, particularly from Lacy to Yelm.
Multiple lines of convection came through producing .30-.50 inches over most of the region, but as much as 2-3 inches in the thunderstorm cores (see map from Seattle RainWatch below)
But what was most extraordinary was the massive lightning display and the stunning clouds.
We can start early this morning, with a stunning shot by Peter Benda of Bellevue showing a blanket of fog over lower elevations and some altocumulus clouds aloft hinting at mid-level instability.
Rod Gilbert sent this absolutely stunning picture from near Dupont, WA. Breathtaking. A rain shaft in the middle with a lower-hanging shelf cloud below. The lower portion of the cloud was roiling with turbulence. Something out of a science fiction movie.
Stephen sent me this image from Tacoma--just stunning.
And Allen Jones forwarded some wonderful lightning pictures, like this one:
How good was the forecast? Well, we did warn of the potential for thunderstorms, but our models suggested they would have hit about 3 hours later then they did. Perhaps a B?
The 9 PM radar shows one last thunderstorm area is about to hit western Washington, with most of the action moving eastward across the Cascades and eastern Washington. Cooler, marine air will push in later tonight, which should end the threat of thunderstorms west of the Cascade crest.
Finally, for the skiers in the crowd, the NW Avalanche Center is having their annual fundraiser, this time for improving mountain weather stations. More information here. And if you want to join local weather lovers at the Puget Sound American Meteorological Society meeting, check below.
________________
On Saturday May 6th, Larry Schick, lead meteorologist for the US Army Corps of Engineers in Seattle, will talk about Flood Risk Management and Atmospheric Rivers in Western Washington at 3pm at the Seattle Public Library Montlake branch, 2401 24th Ave. E., Seattle, WA 98112, http://www.spl.org/locations/m
Some of the thunderstorms brought strong winds, gusting to 40-70 mph, as illustrated by the gust map for the past 12-hours. A few exposed mountain ridges got to 70-80 mph.
Strong wind brought falling trees and damage, particularly from Lacy to Yelm.
Multiple lines of convection came through producing .30-.50 inches over most of the region, but as much as 2-3 inches in the thunderstorm cores (see map from Seattle RainWatch below)
We can start early this morning, with a stunning shot by Peter Benda of Bellevue showing a blanket of fog over lower elevations and some altocumulus clouds aloft hinting at mid-level instability.
Rod Gilbert sent this absolutely stunning picture from near Dupont, WA. Breathtaking. A rain shaft in the middle with a lower-hanging shelf cloud below. The lower portion of the cloud was roiling with turbulence. Something out of a science fiction movie.
Stephen sent me this image from Tacoma--just stunning.
And Allen Jones forwarded some wonderful lightning pictures, like this one:
How good was the forecast? Well, we did warn of the potential for thunderstorms, but our models suggested they would have hit about 3 hours later then they did. Perhaps a B?
The 9 PM radar shows one last thunderstorm area is about to hit western Washington, with most of the action moving eastward across the Cascades and eastern Washington. Cooler, marine air will push in later tonight, which should end the threat of thunderstorms west of the Cascade crest.
Finally, for the skiers in the crowd, the NW Avalanche Center is having their annual fundraiser, this time for improving mountain weather stations. More information here. And if you want to join local weather lovers at the Puget Sound American Meteorological Society meeting, check below.
________________
On Saturday May 6th, Larry Schick, lead meteorologist for the US Army Corps of Engineers in Seattle, will talk about Flood Risk Management and Atmospheric Rivers in Western Washington at 3pm at the Seattle Public Library Montlake branch, 2401 24th Ave. E., Seattle, WA 98112, http://www.spl.org/locations/m
Post a Comment