The Seattle skies lit up with an extreme lightning storm on Saturday night, with over 200 strikes recorded in just 45 minutes.
The National Weather Service’s Seattle station said about 1,250 strikes had been recorded during the powerful thunderstorms over Western Washington, in the space of about three-and-a-half hours.
These lightning strikes are insane! This video was taken during Saturday night’s thunderstorm in Roy, Washington, south of Seattle. Thanks to KOMO viewer Kayle Ray for sending this in! Wow! ⛈?? pic.twitter.com/qd3bACjqNG
— Preston Phillips (@PrestonTVNews) September 8, 2019
MOMENTS AGO: #LIGHTNING over #SEATTLE. Taken from the #KOMONews Columbia Tower cam in downtown Seattle. #WAWX @komonews @abbyacone @ShannonODKOMO @realstevepool #KOMOLOZ pic.twitter.com/tRUGs4St5M
— Danthetruckguy (@danthetruckguy) September 8, 2019
Having way too much fun shooting the #lightning during this totally unique Seattle #thunderstorm ? #wawx #slomo pic.twitter.com/Vq4aznbSOL
— Lisa Bregman (@LisaMBregman) September 8, 2019
Flights were diverted to avoid forked bolts of lightning and thousands of households were left without power after electricity lines and transformers were also hit.
The intense storm caused an “extreme weather” delay of a football game at Husky Stadium before the lightning took out the power in the stadium. The Washington State Fair was forced to close early.
Thunderstorm video from earlier tonight. Huskies are headed back on the field now. GO DAWGS!! pic.twitter.com/BW2YoTB4L7
— University of Washington (@UW) September 8, 2019
Husky Stadium right now… #LightningDelay @UW @UW_Football pic.twitter.com/464KaBfFOW
— Keegan Hall (@KeeganHall) September 8, 2019
“We don’t see this type of weather roll through very often,” said Art Gaebel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.