Bay Area Storm Watch: Intense Lightning, Thunder, Hail Hit Castro Valley and San Lorenzo

Just around 8 p.m. on Thursday evening, it hit.

Bright lightning and extremely loud rolling thunder was witnessed by dozens of folks across Castro Valley and San Lorenzo. Many couldn't get over "the big one" until more rumbles continued throughout the night.

The National Weather Service issued a severe weather warning stating the following:

Some of the storms could produce small hail. Low around 47. South southwest wind between 8 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80 percent.

Some hail could be felt hitting against windows around 9:45 p.m.

Around 8:25 p.m., PG&E Reported three outages in Castro Valley, affecting between 50 and 499 customers. No estimated time of restoration was listed. Several readers said they were without power near Proctor Road.

The thunderstorms have caused delays of one to two hours for flights at San Francisco International Airport, an airport duty manager said. Mostly coastal flights have been affected by the stormy weather and travelers can expect to see delays continue throughout the night, the duty manager said.

Airport officials expect service to resume on schedule Friday morning.

National Weather Service forecaster Diana Henderson said the thunderstorms are expected to continue well past midnight and the Bay Area will likely see more isolated showers throughout the day Friday.

"By Saturday it should be fine," she added.

The California Highway Patrol has issued high wind advisories for the Golden Gate Bridge and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

The CHP is urging motorists to use caution.

Readers fired comments on our Facebook page right around 8:10 p.m. and throughout the evening keeping us and each other posted on the storm. Here's what a few had to say:

• "Last time I heard thunder like that, I was in Kentucky! Never out here before. Wow!"
• "That was really something! It reminded me of the long, loud, low rumbles across Monument Valley and the Midwest. Unusual for here."
• "See it? It lit up my living room and I thought my windows were going to break!"
• "Power went out... Car alarms went off... Lasted what seemed like an eternity!"
• "Wowza! My windows were shaking, as were my dogs. My 6 year old thought we were having an earthquake."
• "Scared the you-know-what out of me. I was out in my workshop and thought the building might come down. Still shaking a bit. And I'm the one usually glued to the window during a storm."

Castro Valley Patch Blogger Thomas Coates captured some of the storm's action in a video posted at the top of this article. Have some of your own photos or videos you'd like to share? Click the "Upload Photos & Videos" button above.

Bay City News contributed to this report.