WA weather: Hail, a waterspout, thunderstorms hit Seattle

A hailstorm hit Seattle on Wednesday afternoon as a waterspout appeared over Puget Sound near Magnolia.

Logan Howard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle, said reports of quarter-inch hail rolled in around 2:45 p.m., and the waterspout was reported around 3 p.m. about 3 miles west of Magnolia.

Howard said a strong cold front moved into the region, causing the hail and spout. There were also reports of thunderstorms.

We had a strong cold front move through last night, and then, basically, what happened was we had a lot of cold air … follow behind it," Howard said. "And so that creates some upper-level instability, which allows kind of air to rise."

A waterspout is like a tornado.

"Tornadic waterspouts are simply tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water," according to the National Weather Service. "They have the same characteristics as a land tornado. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.

Showers and thunderstorms remained possible in Seattle until 10 p.m., with a slight chance between 10 and 11 p.m., according to the National Weather Service's Seattle forecast office.

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