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Best of 2019: Seattle’s September Lighting Storm

More than 2,000 lightning strikes occurred between 6 and 11 p.m.

By Seattle magazine staff December 20, 2019

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This article originally appeared in the December 2019 issue of Seattle magazine.

This article appears in print in the December 2019 issue as part of our Best of 2019 cover story. Click here to subscribe.

Move over Snowpocalypse, our favorite storm-watching came on September 7, when Seattle saw the most electrifying lightning storm in recent memory. Many of us watched like little kids as lightning strikes—more than 2,000 between 6 and 11 p.m.—lit up the night sky. Not everyone has fond memories of the evening: Attendees at the Death Cab for Cutie concert at Marymoor Park were hustled out just a few songs into the headliners’ set, and the University of Washington’s Huskies football game was postponed so long that they didn’t finish until after 1 a.m. (and lost, at that). 

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