Post by Steve Rosenow on Sept 6, 2013 3:00:58 GMT -8
I'd have to say, yesterday was one of the most stormiest and most intense days I have ever witnessed when it comes to thunderstorm activity. Last summer's back-to-back events in July of last year were nothing compared to what we had yesterday.
The National Weather Service for a time considered us the stormiest part of the country. Usually we average maybe five thunderstorms a year on the west half of Washington, and most don't last but maybe an hour or two before they fizzle. In exceedingly rare events one may spawn a tornado or a funnel cloud.
Yesterday, though, we got hammered.
Hard.
In almost 34 years of being alive and as far back as memory can recall, I don't ever recall seeing storms so intense in this part of the country.
For nineteen solid hours we had constant lightning all throughout the western half of Washington state, with thunderstorms reaching altitudes of 50-70,000 feet. Forecasters use a computer model to measure atmospheric instability, called CAPE: Convective Available Potential Energy. Values yesterday were uber-high. Normally we don't get above a few hundred during most thunderstorms here. Yesterday, it shot up to well above 2,000 in many places, which is just below the intensity and instability of thunderstorms in the midwest and in Florida. All this due to a cold-core low that has been spawning thunderstorms at us constantly, for the last three weeks. Last week, the NWS issued a Tornado Advisory for Washington State. Yesterday was that low pressure system's parting shot, and it went out with a bang. And with a bang it did!
Yesterday I was out on the deck most of the day, watching the lightning striking around in the distance about once every two to four seconds and trying to capture daytime lightning photos using a long remote shutter cord. The thunder? Never stopped. It was like a crescendo of thunderclaps - indistinguishable from the bolt of lightning in which they originated. Then the storms moved overhead, and I began to pack it in.
As I was walking out the door to go get my camera which was out on the far end of the deck, one of those non-stop lightning strikes, struck - 50 feet away from the house. The same bolt of lightning hit a pair of trees in the neighboring lot with such force it split the trunk in two places on one tree. Both splits were pretty long. The other tree was split almost down its entire height, and I think the bolt of lightning actually may have shattered the top of the tree, although it was really dark due to the storm clouds so I couldn't tell for sure. The thunder was instant - simultaneous with the flash of lightning it was that close. And it sounded - literally - like a bomb went off. It fried two TVs in the house and one cable box.
After things settled down, I went out and grabbed a photo of the damage to one of the trees, after spotting it with my binoculars.
The backlighting in the photo and the illumination was due to another bolt of lightning that struck overhead. All four of the major network affiliated TV stations in Seattle picked the photo up after I sent it out on Twitter. KOMO News 4, KING 5 News, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News, and KCPQ 13 Fox News, all ran it.
I figure had I been out there with my camera - which was on my tripod, I likely could've been the target.
The month of August ended with shattered records here: Second longest period without any measurable rainfall. Longest period of temperatures above 80 degrees. Longest period of overnight lows above 70. Longest period of monthly overnight heat indexes, and it was the most humid month in Seattle history.
It's been 12 hours since the strike, and my ears are still ringing. And the sound... The loudest thing I have ever heard...
And the month of September began with its own record.
One, the number of recorded thunderstorms above Washington. During its peak, the number was four dozen separate cells. More than twenty five in just the Puget Sound area alone.
Two, the number of lightning strikes. Over 10,100 strikes. Literally unheard of.
The National Weather Service for a time considered us the stormiest part of the country. Usually we average maybe five thunderstorms a year on the west half of Washington, and most don't last but maybe an hour or two before they fizzle. In exceedingly rare events one may spawn a tornado or a funnel cloud.
Yesterday, though, we got hammered.
Hard.
In almost 34 years of being alive and as far back as memory can recall, I don't ever recall seeing storms so intense in this part of the country.
For nineteen solid hours we had constant lightning all throughout the western half of Washington state, with thunderstorms reaching altitudes of 50-70,000 feet. Forecasters use a computer model to measure atmospheric instability, called CAPE: Convective Available Potential Energy. Values yesterday were uber-high. Normally we don't get above a few hundred during most thunderstorms here. Yesterday, it shot up to well above 2,000 in many places, which is just below the intensity and instability of thunderstorms in the midwest and in Florida. All this due to a cold-core low that has been spawning thunderstorms at us constantly, for the last three weeks. Last week, the NWS issued a Tornado Advisory for Washington State. Yesterday was that low pressure system's parting shot, and it went out with a bang. And with a bang it did!
Yesterday I was out on the deck most of the day, watching the lightning striking around in the distance about once every two to four seconds and trying to capture daytime lightning photos using a long remote shutter cord. The thunder? Never stopped. It was like a crescendo of thunderclaps - indistinguishable from the bolt of lightning in which they originated. Then the storms moved overhead, and I began to pack it in.
As I was walking out the door to go get my camera which was out on the far end of the deck, one of those non-stop lightning strikes, struck - 50 feet away from the house. The same bolt of lightning hit a pair of trees in the neighboring lot with such force it split the trunk in two places on one tree. Both splits were pretty long. The other tree was split almost down its entire height, and I think the bolt of lightning actually may have shattered the top of the tree, although it was really dark due to the storm clouds so I couldn't tell for sure. The thunder was instant - simultaneous with the flash of lightning it was that close. And it sounded - literally - like a bomb went off. It fried two TVs in the house and one cable box.
After things settled down, I went out and grabbed a photo of the damage to one of the trees, after spotting it with my binoculars.
The backlighting in the photo and the illumination was due to another bolt of lightning that struck overhead. All four of the major network affiliated TV stations in Seattle picked the photo up after I sent it out on Twitter. KOMO News 4, KING 5 News, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News, and KCPQ 13 Fox News, all ran it.
I figure had I been out there with my camera - which was on my tripod, I likely could've been the target.
The month of August ended with shattered records here: Second longest period without any measurable rainfall. Longest period of temperatures above 80 degrees. Longest period of overnight lows above 70. Longest period of monthly overnight heat indexes, and it was the most humid month in Seattle history.
It's been 12 hours since the strike, and my ears are still ringing. And the sound... The loudest thing I have ever heard...
And the month of September began with its own record.
One, the number of recorded thunderstorms above Washington. During its peak, the number was four dozen separate cells. More than twenty five in just the Puget Sound area alone.
Two, the number of lightning strikes. Over 10,100 strikes. Literally unheard of.
