Thundersnow - also known as a thunder snowstorm. Latest national and local lightning alerts from Spark for Seattle, Washington ©News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Seeing a thunderstorm is a rare phenomenon for them just as much as it is for us. We pay for your stories! The city had been lashed yesterday with hail and snow - and then freakish thundersnow. Rather, we focus on discussions related to local stories by our own staff. log in to manage your profile and account. One burned near Interstate 5 in Oregon not far from the California state line, turning most of the towns of Phoenix and Talent into a blackened landscape littered with the twisted remains of mobile homes and other structures. The Beachie Creek Fire he faced covered less than a square mile (2 square kilometers) on Sept. 7. The flames were so intense that firefighters sometimes had to retreat, including those facing a blaze threatening Portland’s southeastern suburbs. The amazing phenomenon was caught on camera by an onlooker who was in the right place at the right time. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. SEATTLE -- A large storm system rolled across western Washington Saturday night bringing thousands of lightning strikes with it, the National Weather Service reported. Small amounts of rain are in the forecast for far northern California and the Sierra Nevada. See lightning strikes in real time across the planet. THIS is the moment an incredibly rare event is caught on camera. Comments are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed, No-one in Seattle was expecting lightning during the blizzard, The moment the bolt shoots out of the snow storm and touches down on the Space Needle, The impact of the thundersnow bolt strike lights up Seattle's sky, Lightning strikes on the Seattle Space Needle are rare - even rarer during a snowstorm, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). #wawx pic.twitter.com/XeVnNwKkCe. Many residents barely had time to flee with just the clothes on their back. That works out to an estimated 440 an hour and 7 to 8 a minute. Even local residents tried to save homes by gouging firelines by hand and with excavators and bulldozers. More than 38,000 people are still not able to return home in California, Gov. Really wild winter weather sparks freakish bolt strike on city’s famous landmark. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click here. The National Weather Service warned that the dry lightning striking a parched landscape “could lead to new wildfire.”. 10 hours of radar data today compressed into 4 seconds. Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services. When the atmosphere is unstable a layer of air closest to the ground is cold enough to create snow. “What really was jaw dropping for people was the fact that this really changed the paradigm that people have in terms of their sense of security,” said Oregon Department of Forestry spokesman Jim Gersbach. A Met Office spokesperson described it as a "the same sort of meteorological phenomenon as you would see in the summer". "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. By Blitzortung.org and contributors. Numerous studies have found that a warming Earth, which leads to higher temperatures and drier landscape, increases the likelihood of extreme events and contributes to their severity. “It’s been a pretty insane 12 hours across the Bay Area,” the National Weather Service forecasters reported, after the lightning storm during which white-hot bolts licked at the span of San Francisco’s landmark Bay Bridge. You can read more about our, Black Americans rush to polls in surge of emotion, Poll worker fired for turning away voters with BLM shirts, Fauci ‘absolutely not’ surprised by Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis: ‘I was worried that he was going to get sick’, ISIS attacks surge even as Trump boasts of a ‘100%’ defeated caliphate, N.Y. shuts down Hasidic wedding that could have had 10,000 guests, live wildfire updates for Friday, Sept. 18, How wildfire smoke could affect spread of COVID, Firefighter dies battling blaze sparked by gender reveal, MAP: Washington state wildfires at a glance. Smoke covered the West Coast states, creating some of the most hazardous air quality in the world. The smoke stretched clear across the continent and even blew over parts of Europe. Seattle’s iconic Space Needle was all but hidden in brown haze, topped with an American flag that drooped as if in surrender. SEATTLE -- A large storm system rolled across western Washington Saturday night bringing thousands of lightning strikes with it, the National Weather Service reported. With the fire season not yet over, residents are praying for a respite before the next batch of large wildfires. The Seattle area saw about 200 lightning strikes in under an hour paired with heavy rain during an unusual September storm that caused some local power outages. Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. People from Sooke to Sidney reported being able to see the strikes. © 2020 Cox Media Group. Lightning near Seattle. Residents are desperately hoping for rain to wash away the choking wildfire smoke. Jones called the weather conditions “likely a once in a generation event.”. A vast high-pressure zone stretching from Alaska to the desert in the Southwest gave Denver a summer snowfall while pushing warm, dry winds toward the Pacific coast, said Greg Jones, a professor and research climatologist at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon. “You can’t really stand there with a hose when you’ve got 30-mile-an-hour winds and dry fuels,” Gersbach said. It is a basically a type of storm with snow falling instead of rain. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. The National Weather Service’s Seattle station said about 1,250 strikes had been recorded during the powerful thunderstorms over Western Washington, in the … Before the cluster of lightning strikes, the West’s fire season had been slightly more severe than normal. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Some 4,000 people remain in shelters in Oregon, according to the American Red Cross. People from Sooke to Sidney reported being able to see the strikes. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. But many experts have also argued that more needs to be done to thin forests and reduce debris so that flames have less fuel. “You gotta pull together in times like this because it’s like a war zone out here,” Kerry Kuenzi, an area resident who with several dozen others fought a monster fire in the community of Scotts Mills, Oregon, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. It turned out to be a huge understatement. Clad in orange fire-resistant suits and helmets and carrying Pulaski hand tools, they trudged across blackened earth toward the flames. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368, Boris Johnson and top medics to make 5pm Covid announcement today, Michelle Keegan returns to Corrie after 6 years away as cast film Xmas episodes, Helen Flanagan shows off growing baby bump in glam dress for lunch in Manchester, Mum, 18, charged with killing baby daughter 'left her home alone for six days'. But armed with his phone camera Mark Lim braved the weather and caught the once-in-a-lifetime shot of lightning hitting the landmark. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). “These burned so close to populated areas, driven by this wind — basically unstoppable.”. National Guard troops joined the effort. Thousands of bolts ignited hundreds of fires in California and at least one in Oregon, setting the stage for some of the most destructive wildfires the West Coast states have seen in modern times. Predicted rains in fire-hit parts of Oregon haven’t arrived yet. Thunderstorms moved across Western Washington causing the Husky football game to be delayed and even forcing the Washington State Fair to shut down early. In Oregon, officials had decided to not let fires grow, ordering that even small blazes be smothered quickly by aircraft, so throngs of firefighters wouldn’t be needed and potentially spread the coronavirus, Gersbach said. Those gusts pushed the fires through trees and brush that had been drying out all summer, causing the blazes to explode in size and sending them rushing into towns and rural homes. Act II came three weeks later, when another freak weather phenomenon occurred. Officials at the Space Needle said it contains 24 lightning rods plus the spire itself, which ground lightning strikes. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Seeing a thunderstorm is a rare phenomenon for them just as much as it is for us. Free access to maps of former thunderstorms. Last night a massive lightning storm traveled through Washington state and Seattle – between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. there were over a thousand lightning strikes, able to be seen from Victoria. Some no longer have homes to return to. One month later, firefighters are still battling them, and at least 34 people have died in California, Oregon and Washington. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Armies of firefighters responded. California remains dry, though calming winds and lower temperatures — caused in part by the smoke blotting out the sun — have aided firefighters. The lightning bolt is coloured pink as it reflects against the snow falling around it. Related stories . In Oregon, the figure is about 1,560 square miles (4,000 square kilometers), nearly double the 10-year average. News meteorologist Walter Kelley, from q13fox.com, said it was the result of a very active convergence zone.