There was fairly a lightning fest east of the Cascade crest as we speak, with a formidable vortex of thunderstorms producing huge quantities of lightning.
The lightning flashes for the ten minutes ending 5:20 PM tonight have been superb (see beneath, with clouds proven as effectively), with lightning circling across the vortex centered close to Omak, WA. Simply wow….
The seen satellite tv for pc picture a couple of hours earlier exhibits the vortex and the quite a few related thunderstorms (every producing a blob of clouds).
These thunderstorms produced greater than lighting, as illustrated by precipitation totals for as we speak (Tuesday)…see beneath. Some areas acquired over a half inch….quite a bit with a tenth of an inch or extra.
The origin of this spectacular vortex of clouds and lightning is an upper-level low. Beneath is the map of 500-hPa heights (like pressures at 18,000 ft) round 5 PM (the winds are proven as effectively). The low is centered close to the WA/Canadian border, northwest of Spokane.
This low just isn’t going anyplace quick. Right here is the forecast for five PM Wednesday. A small shift to the southeast.
So you’ll be able to count on a return of the thunderboomers on Wednesday! As an instance, beneath is the expected clouds from the very high-resolution UW WRF mannequin for five PM Wednesday.
Mama mia! Quite a lot of thunderstorms over the jap quarter of Washington State!
Lastly, tonight I used to be taking a future with my canine round Magnuson Park in north Seattle and I noticed a towering thunderstorm over the jap slopes of the Cascades–some as excessive as 35,000 ft
