(Image: National Weather Service)

The weird weather in Seattle this week is about to get even weirder. National Weather Service forecasters say be ready for possible severe thunderstorms with wind and hail by Wednesday night around the Puget Sound.

“We have an unusual risk of severe thunderstorms Wednesday, primarily in the late afternoon through the evening,” the NWS alert reads. “The primary hazards we are concerned about are: ⛈️ Hail in excess of 1″ diameter 🍃 Wind gusts in excess of 58mph 🌪️ Possible isolated tornado.”

Wednesday’s unusual forecast follows one of the warmest March days in Seattle on records as temperatures Tuesday climbed above 70 F thanks to a high pressure system in the region.

The arrival of the storm could be dramatic but things should settle down to just plain rainy into the weekend.

The possible wild storms arrive as the NWS is putting new forecast zones into place for the region hoped to make them more focused and specific to the unique features of the areas around Puget Sound. The hope is to address issues with the current zone configurations which can have considerable over or under warnings to communities during extreme weather events. Wednesday night could be a first good test for the new system.

They also could hit as the NWS faces continued pressure under the Trump administration’s withering attacks on federal departments continue to threaten the service and its forecasts.

The NWS forecast is predicting the storm to arrive over Seattle around 6 PM Wednesday.

This maps shows the forecast estimates for the start of possible severe thunderstorm activity across the region Wednesday (Image: National Weather Service)

UPDATE 3/27/2025: KIRO weather reporter Nick Allard says more than 900 lightning strikes were tallied in last night’s storm:

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE THIS SPRING
🌈🐣🌼🌷🌱🌳🌾🍀🍃🦔🐇🐝🐑🌞🌻 
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