We had a bad lightning storm in the seattle area yesterday and it was so loud and crazy I could not sleep it ?

Question

was the worst I have ever seen. I was looking outside when all of sudden there is a huge flash and I see sparks from the power lines and the power goes out but then 2 hours later the power is back on. What happend? Did lightning strike the power lines?

Answer 1

If the power outage was local, lightening may have stuck a transformer or a tree limb may have knocked down a power line.  Usually. this is the case if the power went out all at once but was restored in two hours.  You see, the power company sends service trucks out that can flip a few switches up on the poles to reroute the power bypassing the damaged lines or transformer.  

If the damage is greater such as a strike on a local substation, the power will usually go out, then come back on quickly as the automated reset function tries to restore power.  If the overload is too great the lights will go back off again then come back on a third and final time.  If the reset does not work the third time it no longer tries to reset.  So if it goes lights out, back on, back out, back on, back out, then they will be out for a considerable length of time.  Something more serious must be corrected before power is restored.

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Answer 2

There could be a hundred answers to your question since none of us were there to see it. Most likely lightning hit a transformer, the big grey cylinder than hangs off the sides of some telephone poles. I've seen it happen before first hand.

Answer 3

lightning may have hit the power lines but try being in a patrol car when it was going on