A powerful windstorm knocked out power to more than 115,000 customers across Western Washington on Saturday night, Nov. 7, including about 46,000 Seattle City Light customers at the peak. Gusts reached 69 mph on the coast and about 50 mph around Puget Sound, toppling trees onto roads and power lines from Lewis County to Whatcom County.
Crews worked overnight to restore power. By about midnight, West Seattle no longer had any outages affecting a thousand or more customers, though hundreds were still waiting in Delridge and the Arroyos. A Wind Advisory for the Puget Sound area and a High Wind Warning for the coast stayed in effect into early Sunday.
What caused those flashes over Seattle during the storm?
They were transformers, not lightning. As the outages spread across Arbor Heights and Gatewood, residents reported bright flashes that looked like a thunderstorm. The West Seattle Blog said no lightning or thunder had been reported, and 911 dispatchers received calls from people who heard transformers or fuses blow. Someone in Queen Anne also said they saw a large rectangular flash to the south around the same time.
When a tree or branch hits a power line, the equipment can short out with a bright blue or white flash. Seeing several of those flashes is often a sign that a widespread outage is underway.
Where did the Seattle storm hit hardest?
The central coast took the strongest winds. Hoquiam recorded gusts over 50 mph for hours and twice reached 69 mph, according to meteorologist Scott Sistek. Bellevue hit 50 mph, Everett 48 and Seattle’s main airport 46…