My Ballard

Updated: Thunder and lightning put on quite a show all night long, and My Ballard readers (below) reported hail, flickering lights, power outages and an accident at 85th and 15th. It sounded and felt like Orlando: muggy with thunderstorms moving through. The National Weather Service recorded more 2500 recorded lightning bolts in the past 24 hours. Dusty G. snapped this terrific shot from Lake Union looking toward Capitol Hill…

You can see more lightning photos here.

The mercury has hit 90 degrees for two days in a row.

As you might expect, throngs of people decided to escape their sweltering homes and pack Golden Gardens to try to get cool. At least a thousand people stretched from one side to the other.

Attendants were turning people away at the entrance (as of 5 p.m. Sunday), because the parking lots were full. People then circled around and tried to find parking on Seaview, which was lined with cars all the way down to Ray’s.

And if you think it’s hot sitting on the beach, imagine the folks in the Mountains to Sound race, who finished the last leg of their biking-kayaking-running course at Golden Gardens this evening. Ugh.

But when it was over, racers enjoyed the beach.

“It was pretty bad at the zoo this afternoon: 87 in the shade,” adds Piogga in comments. “Most of the animals were trying to sleep through the worse of it, while the silly humans trekked about in the sun.”

Forecasters are predicting high temperatures in the mid-80s for this Saturday, just in time for Ballard’s annual Norwegian Constitution Day, or Syttende Mai parade. “It does get a little warm when you are wearing those woolen dresses. We are going to put on some sunglasses and some sunscreen,” said Laila Sharpe, one of the event organizers. Sure enough, the traditional costume or “bunad” wasn’t designed for hot weather, and neither are the Norwegian sweaters that some parade participants wear from year to year. But it sure beats the rain, that’s for sure. Here’s the schedule of events for this Saturday.

Last year’s event. Photo courtesy of Smohundro.

By the way, we’ll be shooting photos and video at the parade, so check back to My Ballard on Saturday evening for coverage.

Ah yes, spring in Seattle. It snowed rather steadily in Upper Ballard and Phinney Ridge Sunday morning (nothing was sticking), and then the sun appeared. “We didn’t get any snow today, but it sure was hailing around 11:00 a.m. this morning!” writes Susanne in Fremont, who sent us the photo below. “My kids were having a blast picking up (and eating) the little pieces.”

It’s snowing in brief bouts here in Upper Ballard this morning, but nothing is sticking. Here are a few more reader snow photos from yesterday…

“My tulips first snow! They were not real excited,” writes Michael.

Lindsay shot this photo going down 3rd Ave, toward Holman Road.

And this one at Carkeek Park, around 6 p.m. “I can’t believe these are under my SPRING2008 folder on my computer!!!” she writes.

Sophie snapped these two photos near the Locks. Those are some big flakes.

We haven’t seen it snow this heavily in quite some time. There’s even thunder and lightning! We shot the photo below on the Ridge around 6:45 p.m. If you have some pics, please send ‘em to tips@myballard.com. And just remember, spring summer is just around the corner. Or so we’re told.

Update at 7:15 p.m.: Only light snow now, and a quarter inch or so is sticking on Phinney Ridge, with lesser amounts as you go down the hill to Ballard.

Martina sent us this photo (below) from Lower Ballard, taken at 7 p.m. “(I’ve) never seen it snow this late in the year before,” she says.

Nico sent us this photo of snow-covered flowers from 73rd and Dibble.

At least we’re not in the convergence zone. “This isn’t from Ballard, but I was on my way back to Ballard, from Lynnwood,” writes Anders. “This was taken on the freeway just south of 44th.” Nasty stuff.

The forecast is calling for more snow, off and on, overnight and Saturday.

Just because Mother Nature knows you’re not quite ready for spring just yet, winter has made a return visit. Doree shot this photo from the backyard of a home just east of 8th Ave. around 1:30 p.m…

ThatGuyEric shot this photo in the Ballard Flickr pool…

And the one below came from Sunset Hill. “Twenty minutes ago there was a *lot* more, but it’s melting fast,” TM writes at 2:45 p.m…

If you have a photo, feel free to email it to us at tips@myballard.com.

Update: Seattle Daily Photo snapped a bunch of terrific shots on Flickr.

The calendar may say “spring,” but Mother Nature has her own ideas about our weather. On the way home from work this evening, we found a mix of rain and snow on the top of Phinney Ridge, but nothing is sticking. Forecasters have been saying that we could see low snow in the coming days.

Despite forecasts that we could see as much as 3-4 inches of new snow, Western Washington was spared another bout this morning. We peeked outside a couple times throughout the night and saw nothing but rain. Turns out temperatures were a couple degrees warmer than meteorologists anticipated.

We just took a drive around the area this morning, and traffic is moving smoothly, including Market St. up over the Ridge.

Crown Hill seemed to have as much or even more snow than Phinney Ridge. This is 20th Ave. and 80th St.

The stop sign on that corner.

As usual, there’s much less snow in central Ballard. But there are lots of folks taking the bus this morning.

My Ballard reader Silver sent us this photo of Ballard Market and snow-covered Phinney Ridge. Thanks for the pic!

We have a good inch on the ground around our Ballard house, and it’s a nasty commute just about everywhere. For starters, avoid the steep roads climbing up to Phinney Ridge. Fortunately, school buses don’t have to negotiate the mess: the Seattle school district was already closed today. Forecasters say the snow will taper off this morning, but it will return again late tonight: as much as 2-4″ of new snowfall. If you have photos or any snow-related news, please send us an email to tips@myballard.com. We’ll post photos in a bit.

Forecasters say we could see a trace to 2 inches of snow overnight Saturday and into Sunday. As always, Phinney Ridge is the most likely to see a little snow. But you never know. We’ll update as conditions warrant…