This was a day bookended by a beautiful sunset and a glorious moonset. Above, thanks to Scott Bessho for the sunset photo from Lincoln Park; below, thanks to Greg Anderson for sharing this morning’s memorable moonset, over a ferry bound for Southworth:

Tonight’s sunset and moonrise were just two minutes apart, and if you’re up early tomorrow and have a view to the west, you can check out the next moonset. You can always find the sun/moon rising/setting times, plus forecasts, tides, and more, on the WSB West Seattle Weather page.

10:59 PM: Before we get to tonight’s forecast – sunset views! First three photos are from the Alki vicinity – top, by Annika Bowden. Next, by Russ Walker:

This next one is by Carolyn Newman:

And next – a Lincoln Park view by Jim Clark:

As for our lightning prospects – right now, it’s only happening far to the east, according to KING 5‘s lightning page. But commenter MetPatrick (“met” as in meteorologist) – who saw last night’s show coming, about 8 hours in advance – said a few hours ago that he still thinks it’s possible tonight.

2:28 AM UPDATE: Continuing to watch the aforementioned lightning radar – looks like it’s all moved directly north to north-central Washington now, so our chances of an encore appear to have dwindled.

(SCROLL DOWN for lightning photos, some added Saturday)

11:52 PM: Thanks to Christi for the Friday night sunset shot, as clouds just started to wander this way. Right now, some areas of Western Washington are seeing lightning and thunder, and the National Weather Service has a short-term alert in place, suggesting it might head in this direction. WSB commenter “MetPatrick” noted in e-mail hours ago that this might happen (especially 2-5 am) – potentially again Saturday night, maybe even Sunday night. So don’t be surprised if you hear rumbles and/or see flashes.

12:38 AM: And there it is – rain, lightning, and some thunder.

2:48 AM: Added the lightning photo, which is by Chris Clark (thanks!). All’s quiet now, but that was quite a show!

ADDED MIDMORNING SATURDAY: Another photo! The one immediately above is by Mike Russell.

ADDED SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Two more photos just in! This one is courtesy of Max – looking east past the bridge:

And from John Brunt –

Thanks again! Still a chance it’ll be stormy again tonight, but right now, the sun’s back, and a welcome sight for the afternoon.

ADDED SATURDAY EVENING: SP from Arbor Heights had a great view, pointed toward Vashon/Maury:

Right now the southeast and east are seeing/hearing lightning again – late tonight we might too.

(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; other cameras are on the WSB Traffic page)
7:15 AM: Heading toward the heart of the commute, nothing out of the ordinary right now. The weather is again expected to clear later in the day.

7:54 AM: Not sure if it’ll still be there when you see this, but we noticed the west-facing camera was turned toward the low bridge. And the east-facing camera on the high bridge is back. So we moved the latter to the top, and the former here:

8:01 AM: In comments, STB says an empty Metro Route 57 bus is stalled and slowing things a bit on the northbound 99 ramp.

Just as we were processing photos from tonight’s mesmerizing sunset – lightning and thunder made an appearance. No photos of that yet, but here are three sunset views – first, so vivid from Alki Avenue, even our iPhone photo caught layers of colors. Next, Don Brubeck shares the reflected view from downtown:

And from Greg, on the bluff over Beach Drive’s Weather Watch Park:

A chance of thunderstorms was indeed in tonight’s forecast.

5:04 PM: The ongoing “it’s hot” alert from the National Weather Service is now a “heat advisory” in effect through 11 pm Monday. Right now, the temperature has just registered 91 degrees at Sea-Tac and Boeing Field – hottest temp we’ve noticed in the area all day. And a reader asked us to remind you again – don’t leave your pet in your vehicle, even for “just a moment.”

6:02 PM: Sea-Tac’s 6 pm temp is 92. We’re considering a ferry ride (always cooler on the water!).

11:52 PM: Today’s high was 93 at Sea-Tac. Meantime, the alert has now become an “excessive heat warning” in effect through 11 pm Monday, with the high temperature maybe even in the mid-90s.

Thanks to Michael Copeland for the view from North Admiral – as the weather started to transition from our rainy week to the promise of clearer skies ahead.

ADDED: From Alki via Twitter, Angela‘s view:

Many of tonight’s shots included a ferry – like this one from MM:

And this, from Tom Marx:

As the colors intensified, Annika Bowden took this photo:

From Greg, over Weather Watch Park (Beach Drive):

And Lynn Hall shared views from the Luna/Anchor Park area:

Thanks again to EVERYONE who sent photos to share!

Just in case you haven’t already heard – and even though it might be hard to believe on another day of summer rain – the National Weather Service says hot weather really is on the way. This morning, they issued a Special Weather Statement – read it here – with word that by next Tuesday or so, temperatures could go into the 90s. So if nothing else, this is early warning to get the fan(s) out of the basement, among other preparations.

The thunderstorms that led to a big West Seattle power outage seemed to come out of nowhere yesterday – but today, the National Weather Service is issuing early warning that similar storm bursts are possible; here’s the Special Weather Statement that’s in effect. If nothing else, make sure your phone’s charged! On the truly bright side, the Special Weather Statement also says warm, sunny weather is on the way for the weekend.

(UPDATED with more photos late Tuesday/early Wednesday)

Thanks to everyone who’s sending beautiful rainbow photos (and other spectacular sky shots from the storm’s aftermath)! Here’s a double rainbow for starters, in unsigned mail from Arbor Heights. Next, looking east to the stadium zone, Carolyn shared this:

Back to Arbor Heights for a panorama from Kane:

The sky to the west, from JayDee:

Another view of the full-half-circle and its companion, this one from Andy Cote:

ADDED EARLY WEDNESDAY: Beth Anderson shared this sunset view via the WSB Facebook page:

She says the view was from Me-Kwa-Mooks Park on Beach Drive. Back to rainbows – Joe says his view showed them over White Center:

And from Dave, looking south:

Thanks to everyone who shared theirs!

5:28 PM UPDATE: After lightning which one WSB crew member happened to see from downtown, we have reports of power out in some parts of West Seattle, including Alki and Seaview. You?

5:36 PM UPDATE: Perhaps we should rephrase the question – who still HAS power?

5:41 PM UPDATE: The City Light map now shows the outage. 4,800 homes and businesses. Screengrab from their site:

The National Weather Service says that heavy rain will continue and that the temperature has dropped six degrees in a matter of minutes.

5:56 PM UPDATE: No estimate yet from City Light on when they’ll be able to restore the power (please let us know via comments or editor@westseattleblog.com when you get yours back!) – the storm clouds look to be easing up a bit. And in Upper Fauntleroy, we’re seeing light mist and some ground fog. The Weather Service now says the storm’s moving eastward.

6:29 PM UPDATE: Thanks for the updates on power returning. City Light says about a third of the original outage is fixed – still more than 3,000 homes/businesses with no power.

7:09 PM UPDATE: And more people report they have power back. As of about quarter till 7, City Light spokesperson Mark Van Oss said, they still had at least six transformers to fix, and crews were traveling the length of the feeder involved in the outage.

7:47 PM UPDATE: Down to a relative handful of homes/businesses affected – about 70 per the SCL map. Meantime, we have had one lingering problem as our server buckled under heavy traffic a few times – the WSB Forums are experiencing a database error right now; topic titles are showing but not the posts within them. Got somebody working on it.

7:53 PM UPDATE: As another heavy rain squall moves through, checking out a crash at 42nd/100th that initially brought a “rescue” response but has been downgraded.

10:13 PM UPDATE: City Light confirms about 75 homes/businesses remain without power, and is hoping to have them back somewhere around midnight.

The rising “super moon” was supposed to be the star tonight, but the sunset outshone it. Thanks to Tom Marx for the first photo. From Upper Alki, JayDee caught a ferry in view too:

Meantime, looking eastward, the supermoon had clouds to contend with, but longtime WSB contributor Christopher Boffoli caught this view through the crane over Spruce:

Back to the sunset – this is from Gary Jones:

From TP:

ADDED SUNDAY: Thanks to MM for this view:

And thanks again to EVERYONE for sharing photos with the community via WSB. editor@westseattleblog.com or text to 206-293-6302 any time.

The National Weather Service has a “short-term forecast” alert in effect for our area right now, and it warns of potential thunderstorms. Claire tweeted a few minutes ago that, from the Lincoln Park area, she’d seen lightning to the west. In case it heads this way, you’re forewarned! (The forecast says they’re a possibility tomorrow and Wednesday, too.)

What a sight in the sky today – described by some as “a rainbow around the sun,” though the proper term is “halo.” Ice crystals in the sky create it when conditions are just right (more explanation here); the high, thin cloudiness at midday-early afternoon were also conducive. Thanks to Ben Hutchinson for the top composite image; later in the day, Don Brubeck shared the even-more-rainbow-like image below:

Summer Solstice, by the way, arrives this coming Thursday night (June 20th) at 10:04 pm. An hour before that, join West Seattle’s own skywatching (and then some) expert Alice Enevoldsen for sunset watch at Solstice Park – details here.

P.S. Right after publishing this, we noticed John Wallace III shared a link to a Facebook gallery of his sun-halo photos – see them here.

Thanks to JayDee for sharing the sunset view from Upper Alki, closing out a truly summer-like day. Good news for the weekend – so far, the forecast includes more sunshine, both days!

(Thanks to Linda for photo of storm moving eastward over the Sound)
1:26 PM: Seriously stormy weather blowing through West Seattle – we heard thunder a few minutes ago, and the wind’s kicked up. The National Weather Service has issued a “short-term forecast” alert that also warns hail is possible.

1:44 PM: And after all that, a sunbreak. But more might be on the way later.

5:17 PM: We’ve noted this on today’s traffic roundup (always linked from the sidebar), but it’s worth reporting here too – if you are headed south of West Seattle, you should know a tree’s come down on the southbound lanes of Ambaum:

That’s the tree on the left side of the photo, just south of SW 116th, in north Burien. Equipment to help clear it away was arriving when we were there, but if it’s not clear yet, you’ll be detoured.

Thanks to Debra Salazar Herbst for sharing tonight’s shimmering sunset view from Alki. The weather’s had a little of everything, but the forecast says it’ll get stormy before we see the sun again – breezy, up to 25 mph, later tonight and tomorrow. P.S. You can always check the forecast, current trends, sun/moon phases, tides, and extended outlook by going to the WSB Weather page; we’ve had a few requests to add pollen counts, but so far we’re not finding any suitable web widgets along those lines – sorry!

It’s NOT predicted to be a major deluge or windstorm, but you should know the National Weather Service has a “special weather statement” out for our area, just to make sure everyone knows it’s going to be rainier and breezier than usual for the next few days. Here’s the alert. (Right now, it’s foggy as well as rainy.)

Today was gloriously similar to summer – minus ten degrees or so – all the way down to the photo just shared by Debra Salazar Herbst, sunset traffic along the beach. P.S. Debra is co-founder of the Facebook page Alki Beach Daily Sunsets, and with the sunsets headed back north, the views there keep getting better.

2:52 PM: We’ve heard that other parts of West Seattle have had off-on hail/graupel/sleet etc. this afternoon, and it’s finally arrived here in Upper Fauntleroy. Ground-covering, even! Photo in a moment.

2:58 PM: And now … it’s sunny!

3:34 PM NOTE: This might not be the end of the unstable weather – the National Weather Service renewed the alert just before that icy shower hit. (Still sunny as we write, though.)

Might get windy tomorrow – the National Weather Service has a wind advisory in effect for our area from 9 am to 11 pm, with wind out of the southwest that might gust to 45 miles per hour. Rainy too, tapering off in the afternoon, when thunderstorms are possible. If that’s not wild enough – check out the outlook for Thursday, the forecast says rain and snow showers are possible – with a snow level around 500 feet, the elevation of Seattle’s highest hills (including the Myrtle Reservoir area).