Showers possible for New year’s, Dec 31st forecast
A very busy weather story for our normally quiet part of the world. Showers were widespread early Saturday with most areas north of Point Conception receiving between a half to an inch or more of rainfall. The storm quickly weakened as it moved southeast which meant that Santa Barbara and in to Ventura County saw rain totals closer to about a half inch or less. Winds have now picked up behind the storm front with moderate to strong gusts from the northwest and temperatures will be chilly with overnight lows in the 30's and 40's. The bigger weather story has been the surf which is expected to stay with us through the weekend. However, the swell will weaken through Sunday evening. Our High Surf Warning will be reduced to a High Surf Advisory and be completely gone by 10 pm Sunday. Along with the bigger than normal surf, another high tide of 5 feet plus will occur Sunday around 11 am. This means waves could run pretty far up the beach and caution should be used if you venture near the water. Temperatures on Sunday will be in the 60's and keep the umbrella handy as scattered light showers are possible through New Year's Day.
Looking ahead, the Pacific storm door is still wide open with several systems charging toward the West Coast. Even though Mother Nature usually keeps us dry for New Year's Day, we could see a few sprinkles as a cut off low drifts off our coast. Most models keep it west of us, but rain chances are there through Monday. Tuesday looks to stay dry and then another system approaches by mid week. Our forecast models are in pretty good agreement that more rain is expected and this storm will bring in cooler temperatures. This is great news for ski resorts which have been seeing mostly rainfall with the previous warmer storms. We then see yet another similar type of storm possible for the following weekend. A lot can change with regard to timing and intensity, s we will monitor closely and update frequently. Needless to say that 2023 will end busy and 2024 will start busy weather wise.
