SEATTLE – A meteorological rarity could unfold across the Pacific Northwest with large hail, damaging winds and the possibility of a tornado forecast across the Interstate 5 corridor – a place where severe thunderstorms are nearly unheard of.
Warmer temperatures will help fuel thunderstorm development across the Pacific Northwest, prompting a rare severe weather outlook for the region from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC).
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued for communities stretching from Seattle to near Euegene, Oregon, which for some was the first time ever being included in a watch box. Nearly 7 million residents were under the the Severe Thunderstorms Watch.
Severe Thunderstorm Watch
(FOX Weather)
The SPC has highlighted an area in the Pacific Northwest with a level 2 out of 5 threat of severe thunderstorms Wednesday. This area includes Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver in Washington and Portland in Oregon.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, Wednesday’s forecast is the first level 2 threat for downtown Seattle since the SPC revamped its severe weather outlook system more than a decade ago.
The Washington Emergency Management Division warned that not all residents in the area are aware of the severe weather threat Wednesday, which is concerning.
“Talk to your neighbors,” officials said on Facebook. “I (the Public Information Officer posting this) just talked to three neighbors, and they had no idea. Knock on some doors, talk to folks in your lobby, wave at neighbors in yards and just give them a heads-up.”
A larger area across the Northwest, from the Pacific Northwest coast to western Idaho, including Boise, is under a level 1 threat.
THE 5-POINT SEVERE THUNDERSTORM RISK CATEGORY SCALE EXPLAINED
The SPC said that supercell thunderstorms could develop west of the Cascades across Oregon and Washington, which could produce “a tornado or two.”
“The majority of folks in Washington and Oregon are going to experience lightning, downpours, gusty winds,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “But hail – and even an isolated tornado – that will be the isolated but very important threat to communicate.”
Quarter- to egg-sized hail will be possible within storms that develop. A highlighted area with the greatest potential for damaging hail includes most of the I-5 corridor, including Seattle and Tacoma in Washington and Portland and Salem in Oregon.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE FOX WEATHER APP
“I think the hail threat will be more widespread than the tornado,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Kendall Smith said. “It’s just, you know, obviously it takes one tornado to change your life. Usually, tornadoes in the Northwest are short-lived. They’re rather weak. It’s not like a huge EF-5 that you see in the middle of Oklahoma, which, by the way, even that is extremely rare.”
