Summer squall downs trees, knocks out power around region

A summer squall plowed through the central Puget Sound region Saturday afternoon with gusty winds, a few lightning strikes and drenching rain, knocking down trees and triggering scattered power outages.

The National Weather Service reports that winds gusted up to 40 mph in places. Small hail also was reported in several areas.

A downed tree disrupted traffic on Interstate 5 at Everett, blocking the two right lanes near exit 191 at Broadway and 41st Street. Emergency crews arrived on scene at

A summer squall plowed through the central Puget Sound region Saturday afternoon with gusty winds, a few lightning strikes and drenching rain, knocking down trees and triggering scattered power outages.

The National Weather Service reports that winds gusted up to 40 mph in places. Small hail also was reported in several areas.

A downed tree disrupted traffic on Interstate 5 at Everett, blocking the two right lanes near exit 191 at Broadway and 41st Street. Emergency crews arrived on scene at about 2:30 p.m. and started working to clear the roadway. There were also reports of other downed trees in the same general area.

In the Cascade foothills, gusty winds toppled trees across a swath of King and Snohomish counties. One tree fell onto a car that was parked at the Heather Lake trailhead, off Mountain Loop Highway. No one was hurt.

In Deming, a trained National Weather Service spotter reported limbs of up to 10 inches in diameter being torn loose from trees, along with a half-inch of rain and an eighth-inch of hail as the squall blew through.

Puget Sound Energy reported three weather-related power outages affecting about 4,100 customers at the height of the storm, mostly in the North Bend, Issaquah and Bothell areas. Electrical service was restored to all the areas by 4:30 p.m.

In Snohomish County, about 6,000 customers lost electrical service as the storm moved through. Most of those outages were in the Lake Serene area and Granite Falls, and may have been caused by a lightning strike, Snohomish County PUD reported.

Seattle reported a rainfall total of o.34 inch of rain for the day as of 5 p.m. Other daily rainfall totals as of 5 p.m. were Everett, 0.35 inches; Gig Harbor, 0.38 inches; Boeing Field, 0.58 inches; and Renton, 0.46 inches.

Seattle’s total rainfall for June so far is 2.78 inches through 5 p.m. Saturday – which makes it the eighth-wettest June on record with still a week to go.

A few lingering showers were expected through the remainder of the day, with sunbreaks mixed in and calmer conditions.

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