TRAFFIC/TRANSIT/WEATHER: Wednesday starts with lightning/thunder

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(Above: 2 live cams; you’ll find more on the WSB Traffic page)
6:17 AM: Lightning and thunder are accompanying the next storm band headed this way – so we’ll be tracking that as well as watching the roads and buses. If you’re headed out on foot/bike, obviously, wait a bit! Wind is roaring through with this, too.

Lightning and crazy rain from @wsferries Hyak @ScottSKOMO @NWSSeattle pic.twitter.com/nBxe4QnskP

— zargoman (@zargoman) December 9, 2015

(Added: Lightning from ferry Hyak, video tweeted by @zargoman)
6:36 AM: The lightning/thunder/wind appears to have moved on, for now. Left some hail behind in spots too – thanks for this texted photo from an Alki alley:

Michelle sent this closeup look:

(added) WSB’s Christopher Boffoli said some of what fell at his house was even nickel-sized:

6:48 AM: The City Light map shows one pocket of power outage, 114 homes/businesses in Westwood (added – also 25 in Fairmount Springs, near Fauntleroy/Raymond). If you have power and/or road trouble, please let us know (once you’ve notified authorities!) – comment here or text/voice to our 24/7 hotline 206-293-6302.

7 AM: Via Twitter, @janaobscura says bridge traffic is worse than usual for this hour, too.

7:29 AM: Breezy but at least here near Lincoln Park, the rain is taking a break. Keep in mind that after all that rain, trees can be at risk – Peter sent the photo of this one down against a house in ~~Seaview~~:

We’re checking out one in Arbor Heights too. No reports of road blockages so far.

7:46 AM: That may be changing – we’re off to check out a possible tree-over-road near Lincoln Park. Meantime, if you have to report a road emergency such as a tree, as explained here earlier this fall, SDOT says THE number is 206-386-1218.

8:03 AM: The aforementioned tree is across 44th SW south of Southern – and a couple of guys were working to clear it, but if you use the “switchbacks” between California and Fauntleroy, that might be a trouble spot for a bit.

8:46 AM: Another post-storm hazard for drivers/bike riders/walkers in neighborhoods – lots of branches, small and large, blown off trees. We noticed this on 41st SW west of Fairmount Park, from which Peter sent this updated photo of tree vs. house:

If you haven’t been out yet – still breezy but lots of blue sky; if we didn’t have the photographic evidence (thanks to everyone who has contributed!) you’d never know how this day began!

9:39 AM: More storm aftermath – thanks for the tips! Another toppled tree – this one in Arbor Heights:

And on 41st, not far from the house shown above, a big branch is down on the street, taken off this tree, which has a blackened spot almost as if it had a lightning strike:

Thanks also to G for the info that the Westwood-area outage mentioned earlier is affecting some (but not all) of the businesses at the center – you might want to call ahead if you’re heading that way.

10:08 AM: Some branches brought down this morning are themselves the size of trees.

Joe Szilagyi shared the photo of an 18-foot branch down at his house in Arbor Heights.

Ann December 9, 2015 (6:23 am)

That was wild and loud here in Admiral. Huge beating of hail that shook the whole house!

Smokeycretin9 December 9, 2015 (6:25 am)

Boom!

ChefAlex December 9, 2015 (6:25 am)

Holy Hail Batman!!!!!

sc December 9, 2015 (6:27 am)

Thunder woke me, followed by the lightning show and ending with a hail and rain finale!

RockHill December 9, 2015 (6:29 am)

Wow – that was fun. Is there an encore?

Tanya H December 9, 2015 (6:31 am)

Well that definitely woke me up!

TheKing December 9, 2015 (6:35 am)

Lived here a long time, never seen anything like that…closest thing was when Kam Chancellor hit Vernon Davis down by the 10yd line at the Clink.

Eddie December 9, 2015 (6:36 am)

43 mph at 3:03am. Just west of Alaska Junction

Petert December 9, 2015 (6:37 am)

Tracking it on KOMO Doppler. Heavy cell of hail/rain/wind gust came in from right over Blake Island to hit us here around 5900 Beach Drive. Lightning seems to have dissipated, and things have relatively calmed down around 0636.

Seattleeditor December 9, 2015 (6:37 am)

Crazy wind and pounding rain at times all night, now more lightning and thunder than I’ve seen in forever, and wild hail! Sorry for commuters out there!

JCCK December 9, 2015 (6:39 am)

Kind of terrifying! I was worried for my south side, single-paned windows for a minute there!

Johnny December 9, 2015 (6:41 am)

That was a roller coaster! Let’s do it again!!!!!!

newnative December 9, 2015 (7:00 am)

Missed the entire show while I was in the shower.

scott December 9, 2015 (7:02 am)

Well, my dog certainly noticed that!

Kelly December 9, 2015 (7:12 am)

The cats and I submit a vote for “let’s not do it again”. That was crazy loud and a bit too “thrilling” for me! :)

WSB December 9, 2015 (7:27 am)

Currently a break in the storm here at HQ.

Andy December 9, 2015 (7:38 am)

Is Comcast out for anyone else in Admiral right now?

JCCK December 9, 2015 (7:40 am)

Check your property… My immediate neighbors and I all have damage to fences, trees, etc. Neghbor to the north has wires down onto his back yard… (Morgan junction area) Be safe everyone.

Caitlin f December 9, 2015 (7:53 am)

No power near 19th and Dawson on beacon hill!

WSB December 9, 2015 (8:02 am)

Caitlin – Big outage over on that side of I-5!

workdowntown December 9, 2015 (8:00 am)

Traffic was backed up to top of admiral when I left about 645, turned around and came back home. Comcast tv and internet are out.

Andy December 9, 2015 (8:10 am)

FYI I saw Comcast working near Cafe Fiore a few mins ago on the outage.

WSB December 9, 2015 (8:12 am)

Thanks!

ehyi December 9, 2015 (8:23 am)

No 21 bus for 30min. Metro open data is worthless. Get GPS already.

Social Worker Mike December 9, 2015 (8:28 am)

Crazy! Our whole apartment shook and the hail against the windows was the loudest thing I’ve heard. I was worried the windows were going to break. My dog freaked out worse than she usually does on the 4th of July. It reminded me of the thundersnow blizzards we would get on the east coast. Let’s hope there’s not a sequel.

Jennifer December 9, 2015 (9:37 am)

There is a blackout at the Westwood QFC. They have emergency lights on, but all refrigerated sections are off and covered in plastic.

WSB December 9, 2015 (10:10 am)

Thanks! I just added a reader mention that the Westwood outage was affecting some stores. We’ll check in on them later this morning.

Hawkbit December 9, 2015 (9:46 am)

Water in the basement; this is the first time since we’ve lived in this house that we’ve had a problem. I’m going to guess we have more rainfall than normal.?

PB December 9, 2015 (10:18 am)

Crazy storm, possible funnel cloud? It blew in 1 of our windows and took off a gutter. On 45th between Juneau and Raymond, 2 chimneys down, 5-6 fences knocked down, lots of missing shingles and facia. Lots of clean up to do on our block.

WSB December 9, 2015 (10:26 am)

Wow! Nobody hurt, I hope? You’re just a few blocks west of one of the tree-vs.-house, and big branch down, locations above.

eric December 9, 2015 (10:26 am)

I live at 45th and Juneau. I was on my front porch watching the lightning this morning when we had the strongest 30 second wind storm I have ever seen. It freaked me out and I ran back in the house. My fence blew down along with several of my neighbors. My neighbor across the alley had his BRICK chimney blown down across his roof!

emcat8 December 9, 2015 (11:03 am)

I have lived here a long time and never heard anything like that. I honestly was afraid for a few minutes that windows would be broken and the wind was so intense for such a sustained time that it sounded like a tornado trying to tear my wall off. Looked out to find a couple huge branches in my front yard, and the stacked and covered patio chairs toppled down the stairs, upside down. It was like a backdrop for the four horsemen or something

John December 9, 2015 (11:03 am)

I hate to see the trees down. We have so few in West Seattle.
Nice bike ride to downtown this morning. The wind pushed me the entire way. Now it needs to change direction for the ride home. I was pleased to see many bikers this morning. :-)

Lindsey December 9, 2015 (11:42 am)

The wind was strong enough to knock over my parked scooter (weighs around 250 lbs) overnight. I’m assuming that was during the high winds and the scooter cover caught the air like a sail. Such a bummer to have it damaged in that way.

sophista-tiki December 9, 2015 (12:44 pm)

power out this morning at about 6:20AM after lightning. back on about 11:15. one block east of Westwood.

Kelly December 9, 2015 (12:51 pm)

The storm didn’t wake me up — the whiny, trembling dog trying to dig under the covers did! She’s such a wuss — bless her heart.

sophista-tiki December 9, 2015 (1:19 pm)

Does nobody remember the GIGANTIC windstorm from about 7 or 6 yrs ago. those winds were much stronger, power was out for 4 days.

JeffK December 9, 2015 (1:35 pm)

A section of fence from the far side of our neighbors yard flew through our shared fence and then hit the back of our house. Our fence on the other side of the yard blew over and is resting on the opposite neighbor’s shrubs. This is in Seaview.

Was just getting on I-90 this morning when the hail hit and it knocked my wipers out. Now home to do repairs on house and car. And I need to go hunt for my garbage can…

West Seattle Hipster December 9, 2015 (4:30 pm)

Shaking my head at the comments “that was fun. Is there an encore?” and “lets do it again!!!”.

My neighbors who had a tree land on their house don’t share the same sentiments.

JayDee December 9, 2015 (8:55 pm)

2008 Chanukah Day Storm (excuse me for spelling)…That was 36 hours for my house.

Michelle December 9, 2015 (9:05 pm)

We spent our day today watching our poor tree be deconstructed by a wonderful crew to see what the damage was to our house (the blue craftsman above). Shockingly we are all ok, and the house is mostly intact! I can’t imagine what an encore would do to us, so let’s just skip that until our chimney and roof are repared please.