What the hail?! Tri-Cities ties chill record

Hail, thunder, lightning and rain, rain, rain.

The Tri-Cities saw it all Wednesday, along with tying a temperature record dating back to 1983.

But don’t expect any more wild weather this week, according to the National Weather Service in Pendleton.

Forecasters say the Mid-Columbia will see the skies slowly clear up through Sept. 27. High temperatures will reach 79, with lows around 50.

Winds are expected to be calm across the region, with no other precipitation for at least a week.

But Wednesday was a different story.

Several people reported on Facebook getting caught in small hailstorms. Benton County Fire District 1 posted a video of tiny white ice balls falling at its 19th Street training grounds in Kennewick.

Claps of thunder and flashes of lightning also were heard and seen across the Tri-Cities. Gullywashers swept through areas; some weather observers reported as much as 0.37 inch of rain in Kennewick.

The weather service reported 0.09 inch at the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco.

But despite the distraction of the rain, it was the temperature that set a record. The Tri-Cities tied the lowest high temperature for Sept. 20 with 58 degrees. Rob Brooks, a meteorological technician with the weather service, said the record was set in 1983.

If you’re headed out of town this weekend, the weather service forecasts the passes will be relatively clear.

Snoqualmie Pass has chances of rain mixed with snow through Friday, but the weather service expects conditions to be dry after that.

Snow fell on White Pass overnight, but the snow is expected to taper off by Thursday night as temperatures warm and the snow level rises.

Chinook Pass is to open on Thursday after being closed because of forest fires. But drivers could encounter rain/snow mixes on the roadway.

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 7:45 PM with the headline "What the hail?! Tri-Cities ties chill record."