Storms moving through Western Washington brought lightning, heavy rain and hail. Lightning hit trees in the Fremont and Green Lake neighborhoods, in one case sparking a garage fire.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.
Storms moving through Western Washington brought lightning, heavy rain and hail. Lightning hit trees in the Fremont and Green Lake neighborhoods, in one case sparking a garage fire. Power was knocked out in northeast Seattle and crews worked to replace 24 transformers damaged by lightning.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 2, 2:16 AM PST, 4 hours 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
316 AM PDT SAT AUG 2 2014
.SYNOPSIS...A SMALL WEAK UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL BRING A CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS TO THE CASCADES THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
OTHERWISE...A BROAD UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL REMAIN OVER THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST THROUGH MID NEXT WEEK...KEEPING WESTERN WASHINGTON WARM
AND DRY. LOW LEVEL ONSHORE FLOW WILL BRING MORNING LOW CLOUDS TO THE
LOWLANDS EACH DAY WITH SUNNY AFTERNOONS.
&&
.SHORT TERM...A BROAD MODERATE AMPLITUDE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL
REMAIN OVER THE PACIFIC NW THROUGH TUESDAY...KEEPING THE AIR MASS
WARM AND DRY.
A VERY WEAK UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH REMAINS EMBEDDED IN THE
BROAD RIDGE AND IS CENTERED OVER W WA THIS MORNING. THIS SHORTWAVE
HAS BEEN SUPPLYING ENOUGH INSTABILITY OVER THE AREA FOR SCATTERED
MAINLY MOUNTAIN THUNDERSTORMS THE PAST DAY. THERE CONTINUES TO BE A
CHANCE OF MAINLY DRY HIGH-BASED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING...BUT UNLIKE YESTERDAY THEY ARE EXPECTED TO BE RESTRICTED TO
THE CASCADES. GFS MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES ARE FORECAST BETWEEN 7.5-8.0
C/KM OVER THE CASCADES THIS AFTERNOON WITH LIFTED INDICES AROUND -2.
LAPSE RATES NEAR 7 C/KM OVER THE OLYMPICS WERE LOW ENOUGH TO DROP
THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THERE. MID LEVEL 700 MB FLOW OVER THE
AREA HAS JUST ENOUGH WESTERLY COMPONENT TO RESTRICT CELLS TO RIGHT
AROUND THE CASCADE CREST.
THE UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH WEAKENS AND DRIFTS FAR ENOUGH NE BY
SUNDAY TO RESTRICT THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TO JUST THE N
CASCADES IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
LOW LEVEL ONSHORE FLOW REMAINS WEAK BUT AS OF 2 AM STRATUS HAS
FINALLY FORMED A LITTLE EARLIER WITH SLIGHTLY MORE COVERAGE ALONG
THE COAST. THE STRATUS WILL NOT MAKE IT VERY FAR INLAND THIS
MORNING BUT THE NAM BOUNDARY LAYER RH SUGGESTS GREATER PENETRATION
INLAND BOTH SUNDAY AND MONDAY MORNINGS. THE STRATUS WILL STILL BE
SHALLOW ENOUGH FOR BURN-OFF BY MIDDAY. KAM
.LONG TERM...THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE BUILDS SLIGHTLY OVER THE AREA ON
MONDAY AS THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH FINALLY DEPARTS THE AREA. AT THE SAME
TIME THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE AXIS IS ALSO MOVING SLOWLY E. MAX TEMPS
SHOULD WARM SLIGHTLY MONDAY. THE ONLY WEATHER PROBLEM WILL BE THE
COVERAGE OF THE MORNING STRATUS.
THE MODELS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY SHOWING WEAK WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT
DEVELOPING EARLY THIS WEEK AND THE REMNANT MOISTURE FROM A WEAK
FRONT APPROACHING W WA TUESDAY NIGHT. THE REMAINS OF THE FRONT MOVE
INLAND ON WEDNESDAY. THIS STILL LOOKS LIKE A DRY FEATURE WITH THE
MAIN IMPACTS BEING A STRONGER S COMPONENT TO THE ONSHORE FLOW FOR
MORE MORNING STRATUS...AND A BIT MORE MID AND HIGH CLOUD COVER ON
WEDNESDAY.
500 MB HEIGHTS FALL BELOW 5800 METERS ON THURSDAY AS A BROAD FLAT
UPPER LEVEL TROUGH SETTLES IN JUST OFFSHORE. ONSHORE FLOW ALSO LOOKS
STRONGER LATE THIS WEEK. BETWEEN THE STRONGER ONSHORE FLOW AND THE
GENERAL AIR MASS COOLING FROM THE TROUGH...MAX TEMPS SHOULD DROP
BACK TO NEAR NORMAL...RANGING FROM THE 70S TO NEAR 80 INLAND. KAM
&&
.AVIATION...SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON WITH AN
UPPER RIDGE CENTERED OVER THE ROCKIES. AT THE SURFACE...HIGH
PRESSURE WILL REMAIN OFFSHORE WITH LOWER PRESSURE INLAND.
STRATUS ALONG THE COAST AND PARTIALLY INLAND DOWN THE STRAIT OF JUAN
DE FUCA AND THROUGH THE CHEHALIS GAP EARLY THIS MORNING SHOULD BURN
OFF BY THIS AFTERNOON. OTHERWISE...THE AIR MASS IS DRY. ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS COULD BUBBLE UP OVER THE CASCADES AGAIN THIS
AFTERNOON...WITH THE BEST CHANCES NEAR THE CREST. OTHERWISE THE AIR
MASS IS STABLE.
KSEA...MOSTLY CLEAR. LIGHT AND VARIABLE WIND BECOMING NORTHWEST 4-8
KNOTS THIS AFTERNOON. SCHNEIDER
&&
.MARINE...HIGH PRESSURE WILL REMAIN OFFSHORE WITH LOWER PRESSURE
INLAND FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY WEST WINDS
ARE POSSIBLE EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN THE STRAIT OF JUAN DE
FUCA. SCHNEIDER
&&
.SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...NONE.
PZ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY OUTER COASTAL WATERS AND CENTRAL AND
EAST STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA.
&&
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE
FOR THE GRAPHICAL AFD...VISIT
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE/GAFD/LATEST_WEBAFD.HTMLThe Seattle radar (KATX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Storms moving through Western Washington brought lightning, heavy rain and hail. Lightning hit trees in the Fremont and Green Lake neighborhoods, in one case sparking a garage fire. Power was knocked out to about 2000 customers in northeast Seattle and crews worked to replace 24 transformers damaged by lightning.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, August 2014
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 531573.