The Meteorology of the Kenmore Air Crash near Sucia Island

On Thursday around 5:15 PM, a Kenmore Air float plane crashed on the south side of Sucia Island in the San Juans.   An image from the final seconds (shown below) does not suggest particularly strong winds at the surface, nor any precipitation.

The weather radar at the time of the incident shows a convective/thunderstorm line just to the south, but with the crash location (indicated by the red arrow) being in the clear.

The thunderstorms in the band were associated with lightning (see map below) for the period immediately before the crash.

There was good reason that the Kenmore Air pilot, headed towards Roche Harbor, went north and east to avoid the incoming thunderstorm cells.  He appeared to be circling about, waiting for a weakness in the convective line--but I am not sure of that.

So how severe were the meteorological conditions?

Examining the wind gusts at 5 PM, there was nothing exceptional, with 23 mph near the accident site (Eastsound).

Precipitation with the thunderstorm line was variable, ranging from 0.44 to 0.04 inches on Orcas Island.

The bottom line is that meteorology (a line of thunderstorms) obviously caused a change in the route of the Kenmore aircraft, but there is no direct and obvious causal relationship to the accident.