Red Flag Warning

...ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING...

.Two rounds of showers and thunderstorms will impact Central and Eastern Washington between Wednesday night and Thursday evening. The first round will track south to north through Central Washington Wednesday night into Thursday morning and will consist of a mix of wet and dry thunderstorms with scattered lightning strikes. Rainfall amounts will generally range from a trace to a tenth of an inch, but may be higher if multiple storms move over the same area. As this activity drifts north of Highway 2 Thursday morning, lightning activity will become isolated. A second round of thunderstorms will track southwest to northeast late Thursday morning into Thursday evening. A few storms could be strong during this time with frequent lightning and hail. Gusty outflow winds and new fire starts will be a concern with any thunderstorms from Wednesday night through Thursday evening.

* Affected Area: East Washington Central Cascades (Zone 696), East Portion of North Cascades National Park/Lake Chelan National Recreation Area (Zone 697), East Washington North Cascades (Zone 698), Methow Valley (Zone 704), Foothills of Central Washington Cascades (Zone 705), Waterville Plateau (Zone 706) and Western Columbia Basin (Zone 707).

* Thunderstorms: Isolated to scattered coverage. A mix of wet and dry thunderstorms with rainfall amounts less than a tenth of an inch. Locally higher rainfall amounts possible where multiple storms move over the same area.

* Outflow Winds: Erratic outflow winds ranging from 20 to 40 mph.

* Impacts: New fire starts from lightning. New fires could be impacted by gusty outflow winds.