Severe Thunderstorms with Strong Winds, Massive Lightning, Heavy Rain, and Hail Hit Eastern Washington

As predicted, a line of strong thunderstorms moved through eastern Washington yesterday, with dramatic impacts.   The radar image at 8:45 PM last night is shown below.  Red is associated with very heavy rain or hail.

The line of thunderstorms was associated with strong gusts from storm outflow.  The maximum gusts yesterday are shown below.  Some reached over 70 mph!

The result was lots of downed trees and branches, with thousands losing power.   As an example, here is a picture sent to me by Bob Powers of Mabton, Washington (near Yakima).

This event brought massive lightning, with thousands of individual strokes (see below), a measure of the great instability and vertical development of these storms.

This event also produced very heavy rainfall and impressive totals.  Many locations exceeded 1 inch (see below).

And some exceeded 2-3 inches!

This heavy rain not only moistened the soil, but will keep the reservoirs high.

A stunning aspect of this event is how well high-resolution weather models predicted it.  We have come a very, very long way during the past decades.

This weekend should bring mid-60s in the west and around 80F in the Columbia Basin, with dry conditions.  Enjoy.

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