This morning, I took a look at the 24-h lightning strike map for the region and my jaw dropped (see the map below). Many hundreds (if not thousands) of lightning strikes hit our region, with southwest WA and the eastern side of Puget Sound country getting more lightning than I have ever seen before in a day. Simply amazing.
Why so much lighting for this event? Certainly, the record breaking amounts of atmospheric moisture streaming into the area the previous two days are prime candidates. Large amounts of moisture act like "fuel" for thunderstorms, since as the air rises in the cumulonimbus clouds, the moisture condenses, releasing latent heat, which makes the air more buoyant.
Another measure of the intensity of the thunderstorms yesterday were their heights. Typical thunderstorms around here usually rise to 15,000-20,000 feet at most. Wimpy stuff. But yesterday, several of the storms climbed to over 40,000 ft, as shown by the echo-top radar product shown below.
One of my graduate students went to the University of Oklahoma and even he was impressed. Torrential rain fell out of some of the more intense cells. In Auburn, 1.3 inches of rain fell in less than two hours. That is a deluge.
Well, the thunderstorms are over now, and light rain is moving in associated with a (typical) Pacific front. Oh well...
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
Why so much lighting for this event? Certainly, the record breaking amounts of atmospheric moisture streaming into the area the previous two days are prime candidates. Large amounts of moisture act like "fuel" for thunderstorms, since as the air rises in the cumulonimbus clouds, the moisture condenses, releasing latent heat, which makes the air more buoyant.
Another measure of the intensity of the thunderstorms yesterday were their heights. Typical thunderstorms around here usually rise to 15,000-20,000 feet at most. Wimpy stuff. But yesterday, several of the storms climbed to over 40,000 ft, as shown by the echo-top radar product shown below.
One of my graduate students went to the University of Oklahoma and even he was impressed. Torrential rain fell out of some of the more intense cells. In Auburn, 1.3 inches of rain fell in less than two hours. That is a deluge.
Well, the thunderstorms are over now, and light rain is moving in associated with a (typical) Pacific front. Oh well...
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
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