excerpt:
In Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, about 260 miles to the east, Dick Haugen said he was driving to work at KVNI Radio when he saw a flash that he took to be lightning about 2:40 a.m. — then learned there were no lightning storms anywhere in the region.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001946256_webflash03.html#video
That's what I thought. I'm not a geologist and I know very little about earthquakes but at 2:39 AM PDT this morning there was a quake in Washington state. Not sure how unusual that seismic reading is though - around volcanos you have quakes often.
That may be perfectly normal activity. Anyway, here are the seismic readings:
From: http://www.pnsn.org/recenteqs/Quakes/quakes0.htm
map 1.6 2004/06/03 02:39:57 47.972N 121.978W 43.4 11 km ( 7 mi) NE of Snohomish, WA
Also see here:
http://www.pnsn.org/WEBICORDER/GREEN/GNW_EHZ_UW.2004060300.html
Yes, 2:42 AM PDT.
But the odd thing is that some people claimed to be looking at an unusual stationary bright light in the sky for several minutes before that.
And I heard a person call in to a TV station complaining about smaller booms still occurring 30 minutes after the sighting time.