Up to 2,500 lightning strikes recorded during severe storm
May 5, 2017, 5:51 AM | Updated: 11:21 am
Expect to see some lightning Friday afternoon. (KIRO 7)
(KIRO 7)
There were as many as 2,500 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes recorded during the thunderstorm that knocked out power to thousands and flooded roadways across Western Washington Thursday.
Check school closings and delays
It was one of — if not the — most active severe weather day since the mid-1980s, according to data from the National Weather Service. Eight Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued, which is more than in the past five years combined, according to KIRO 7 Meteorologist Morgan Palmer.
Fewer than 10,000 Puget Sound Energy customers are without power. Only a handful of Seattle City Light customers are in the dark. Snohomish County PUD reports power has been restored to the bulk of its customers, with scattered outages in the Lake Stevens/Granite Falls area.
KIRO 7 reports Lacey may have been the hardest hit by the thunderstorms. A number of drivers were trapped for hours by the storm that knocked down a power pole.
Thunderstorms are now out of the forecast.
“We’re back to a more typical weather pattern Friday with occasional showers, lots of gray skies, and temperatures only reaching about 60 in the afternoon,” according to Palmer.
