Puget Sound region sees lightning, hail ahead of season’s first freeze
Oct 21, 2020, 11:45 AM
Rainy weather descended on the Puget Sound region Wednesday. (National Weather Service, Twitter)
(National Weather Service, Twitter)
If it wasn’t official already, it certainly is now: Fall has arrived in the Puget Sound region with a flourish, heralded by lightning, hail, and soon-to-be freezing weather.
‘The switch is about to be flipped’: Fall weather will soon be here to stay
Parts of the region experienced thunderstorms for much of Wednesday morning, with lightning strikes reported as far north as Marysville, down to Queen Anne in Seattle. Hail was also seen in Marysville, Shoreline, and Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.
More rumbles of thunder at the office. Here's a view of the moody skies looking into convergence zone from the Space Needle webcam. Seems like Leonard Cohen's "You Want It Darker" might be a good soundtrack for this. #wawx pic.twitter.com/kBrUsjHEQt
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) October 21, 2020
These thunderstorms have largely been isolated in the region, with the National Weather Service expecting scattered showers to persist throughout the day. It predicts that “most activity will die off pretty quickly by sunset.”
This is a precursor to what will soon be the coldest temperatures the Seattle area has seen since April, dipping into the 30s by Thursday morning. By Friday, things will get even more frigid.
“That’s just the appetizer as another system arriving later Friday will bring snow levels down to all of the passes and usher in even colder temperatures for the weekend,” the NWS predicts, pointing to the possibility of wet snow mixing in with rain below 2,000 feet elevation on Friday.
Check Washington mountain pass webcams
After that, the Seattle area will get a brief break from rainy weather, brought on by “a widespread freeze by Sunday morning,” with temperatures expected to dip into the low-30s by Sunday night. That will mark the region’s first frost of the season in the lowlands.
The NWS warns that travel through the passes could be hazardous in the next few days, with “a few inches of snow” above 3,000 feet. By Friday, snow could be covering Cascade passes at 2,000 feet and above.
