Most Clark and Cowlitz county residents were likely up early as a sunrise spectacular occurred with multiple heavy lightning-producing thunderstorms passing over the region on Thursday, July 16.
From around 4 through 9 a.m. for Clark County, with storm times extending further north, cloud-to-ground lightning illuminated the morning skies on both the west and east sides of the area as individual storms built power heading across the Columbia River on north and northwest tracks. By 7:40 a.m., KPTV Chief Meteorologist Mark Nelson reported the Portland Metro area experienced 378 lightning strikes from the storms, with that number growing as the morning went on.
The lightning strikes even caused small fires and damage across Southwest Washington and western Oregon…