Hail, thunder and lightning flashed through Western Washington. Trees fell across roadways, and power outages were reported in the Tri-Cities on Sunday. High winds and dust storms closed Interstate 90 from east of Moses Lake to Highway 395 at Ritzville from about 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday.
Hope you had a good weekend despite some of the weather in Washington state over the past couple of days.
The forecast for Monday is much better: Clear and cold Monday morning with highs later in the day in the lower 50s. Although fresh snow fell overnight in the Cascades, it’s a dry morning across the lowlands with plenty of sunshine expected, the Weather Service reports.
Eastern Washington will be sunny in the afternoon with highs near 60. Winds are decreasing in both Western and Eastern Washington.
The hail piled up in Western Washington on Sunday afternoon as storms blew through.
In Eastern Washington, a seven-vehicle crash was reported in the blowing dust in the westbound lanes of Interstate 182 in Richland Sunday afternoon.
Injuries appeared minor, according to the Washington State Patrol, but a driver from Sunnyside was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland by ambulance.
Just before I-90 closed, a woman who drove the stretch of road described the experience as “pretty scary” on the Washington State Department of Transportation East’s Twitter feed and said she was “white knuckling it.”
A gust of 99.8 mph was reported Sunday afternoon at Rattlesnake Mountain, according to data from the Hanford Meteorological Station.
Wind gusts as high as 55 mph were forecast for late Sunday night in the Tri-Cities, with wind speeds forecast to decrease after midnight.
Pasco police reported several trees were down across the city and advised drivers to be careful.
In north Franklin County, Road 170 was closed after a vehicle hit a power pole, taking down power lines.
Benton County PUD reported a power outage affecting 829 customers Sunday evening.