The weather forecast has been calling for more clouds and cooler temperatures, but we weren’t expecting the booming thunder and bright lightning!

Thunderstorms in July? Just what we need! I understand that summertime rain happens, but we just got our sunny days back… OK, I’m done whining now. Here’s hoping forecasters are right, and we’re back to the warm summer sun later this week. In the meantime, here’s a look at the storm from the KIRO7 doppler radar as of 8:01 a.m. Looks like more rain is headed our way.

On top of that some folks over in Sunset Hill in Ballard have already lost power this morning.

The forecast, according to KING5, is still calling for highs in the 70s, with cooler temps later the next couple of days followed by clouds and sun.

The Space Needle, along with a number of other towers around the world, will be lit red when the sun goes down this evening to stand in solidarity with and support Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that hit last month.

Photo of Space Needle in red, white and blue shot from Kerry Park by Joe Rothstein, via Flickr.

“We hope that by lighting our rooftop in red, people will be encouraged to make a donation to the Japanese Consulate’s governmental website, the American Red Cross, or any other credible organization that is providing aid to Japan,” President and CEO of Space Needle LLC Ron Sevart said in a statement. “The people of Japan that have been impacted by this tragedy still need our help.”

According to KING 5, the following buildings will also be going red tonight, Monday, April 4:

CN Tower (Toronto, Canada), John Hancock Observatory (Chicago), Menara KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Macau Tower (Macau, China), North Tower (Seoul, Korea), Olympic Tower (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), Sky Tower (Auckland, New Zealand), and Spinnaker Tower (Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom).

This story first appeared on our sister site My Wallingford.

In the spring, Seattle’s rain encourages blooms and beauty, but in the winter that wetness brings on the season of potholes. Is it our imagination, or are the hazardous holes particularly prolific this year?

If you see a pothole, be sure to report it to the city, either online or by phone (684-ROAD). The “Pothole Rangers” should be out to fix it soon, but keep in mind they’re very busy, as KING-5 reported a couple of weeks ago.

A small grass fire outside a home at 1229 3rd Ave N caused quite a bit of smoke at the top of the hill this evening. KING5 snapped a shot of the brush fire from their nearby Queen Anne tower cam.

The Seattle Fire Department was called to the scene at approximately 5:46 p.m. and put out the fire in less than ten minutes.

People nearby began Tweeting about the fire almost immediately, one joking that it is “hard to believe there’s anything on Queen Anne dry enough to burn.”

(Photo courtesy of KING5).

Nearly 100 passengers on the “Sapphire Princess” cruise ship, which was docked in Seattle this weekend, caught what has now been identified as the Norovirus bug, a common albeit highly contagious gastro-intestinal virus (with bleak symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea), according to KING5.

According to reports, 96 passengers sought medical attention during the ship’s seven-day return from Alaska. Cruise ship representatives say the virus was most likely brought on board by passengers unknowingly. The ship staff also said they took the “highest sanitary precautions” in an attempt to quell the outbreak and made sure to “super-sanitize” the ship before disembarking from Terminal 91 with 2,000 new passengers Sunday afternoon.

Cake-baking expert Kaysie Lackey opened her brand new Queen Anne bakery, The People’s Cake, located at 177 Western Ave W, earlier this month, and already she’s garnered attention from some of the biggest names in the food world–including the Food Network.

Last week Lackey was a contender on the Food Network’s ‘Extreme Villain Cakes’–a show that challenges four cake designers to create the most original, dark, cake-made villains they can think up–and she won!

Four cake designers tap into their dark side as they create original villains and tell their stories in cake. The cake designers also need to make their creations move or spin or shoot fire — making for a truly extreme competition. The competitor who can wow the judges with both the story and the special effects will take home ten thousand dollars.

The $10,000 prize wasn’t too shabby either!

Lackey’s going to be on KING5′s new show, New Day Northwest, taking about the competition and baking a cake for the crew today, Tuesday, April 20. Tune in to Channel 5 at 11 a.m. to catch a little cake action.

(Photo courtesy of The People’s Cake Facebook page).

Star of the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch Captain Sig Hansen will be on King-TV’s new show New Day Northwest later this week. Hansen recently released his memoir “North by Northwestern: A Seafaring Family on Deadly Alaskan Waters.” Suzie at King-TV emailed us to let us know Hansen will be on the new show this coming Thursday. “We are looking to pack the audience with Sig fans!” she writes. Tickets are free, just email newdaytickets@king5.com. Audience members need to show up at 9:15, taping starts at 10:15 and will finish up around 11:30. If you can’t make it to be part of the audience, the show airs on King-TV, channel 5, from 11 a.m. to noon.

It’s a beautiful morning in Seattle. The sky is blue. The sun is shining. And Queen Anne is the perfect place to grab a perch and soak it all in.

At least that’s the same idea this Peregrine Falcon had this morning when he took in the views from KING5′s Queen Anne tower cam. Apparently there was a falcon nest on top of the WAMU (now Chase) tower, so this little guy might be a Seattle native!

(Thanks to KING5 for the pic!)

The new Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation campus in Lower Queen Anne, an estimated $500 million project scheduled to open in spring 2011, has been under construction for some time. Still a year out from completion, many people who live, work and play in the neighborhood are itching to get a closer look. Well, here’s your opportunity! KING5 got a sneak peak of the new campus this week, including insight into its sustainability and design.

You can also take the Foundation’s virtual tour.

More information here.

KING5 is reporting that over 20 McClure Middle School students have been suspended after an incident of “cyberbullying” via Facebook. A spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools told KING that between 20 and 30 students were reprimanded for “friending” or becoming “fans” of a Facebook page that targeted one particular student in a malevolent way.

According to the report, McClure’s principal found the page on Tuesday night, and spent the following day meeting with the students involved and their parents. The suspensions ranged from two to eight days long depending on the circumstances of involvement for each student. The school district and PTSA also told KING they plan to hold an assembly for the students to talk about cyberbullying, and will be working with parents to monitor this kind of online behavior in an attempt to prevent similar incidences in the future.

This news comes only two months after reports of an incident of harassment between middle school students at McClure and St. Anne School on the hill. At that time many parents had heard only anecdotal stories of what our tipster referred to as a “very serious incident of harassment and bullying”, and were calling for more action from the administrations and the community to help resolve the tensions between neighborhood youth. The principals at both schools declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Our Lady of Fatima in Magnolia announced in a press release yesterday that it has decided to target bullying by bringing in actors from Taproot Theatre to perform Super School, a play about a school of superhero kids who aren’t allowed to use their superpowers on the playground, designed to teaches kids about preventing violence and managing their emotions. Find out more about Taproot’s school assembly programs here.

Last night KING5 reported another raccoon attack on Queen Anne hill. This time the victim was a Maltese named Cooper. Owner Carolyn Magoon said she “heard horrific screams” just after letting Cooper out into their fenced backyard on Sunday evening, November 22. She came running, only to spot Cooper under the weight of the attacking raccoon underneath a small table. She wrote in the comments of a previous raccoon attack story,

My dog was just attacked sunday evening in my fenced back yard. It was November 22nd at 7:45pm. I let him out to do his business and less than 30 seconds later heard the most horrific cries. I dashed out to find a HUGE raccoon on top of him rolling him. I grabbed a broom and yelled and he didn’t let go. Finally I punched it with the broom handle and he released for a second giving my maltese time to escape. The raccoon turned and began chasing after my dog. I had to fend it off from the open door! No one will do anything about this!

This is not the first raccoon attack in Queen Anne recently. Just a couple of weeks ago Kelly Gilliam was walking her dog, Winky, at around 10 p.m. when they were attacked by a raccoon that jumped out of a nearby bush. Both were OK, though not without injury. Gilliam spent four days in the hospital, having 12 gashes on her body and needing over a dozen rabies shots. And much like in the case two weeks ago, police told Magoon they couldn’t do anything about the raccoon attack under the law. “It turned on me thinking I took away its meal,” she told KING5. “Is it going to take a small child getting mauled before they do anything.”

Back in July another Queen Anne Maltese, Rosie, was attacked by a raccoon, losing her right hind leg to the injuries. She is going much better now, but still, many residents feel these attacks need to be dealt with before more animals and residents are hurt.