A cold airmass parks over the area causing rain, wind and snow levels to plummet
A very cold airmass moves into the region today, causing the chance for showers and snow levels to plummet in higher terrain. We saw a little over a quarter of an inch of rain here in Santa Barbara and will likely only see another tenth of an inch or so Wednesday. Higher elevations over 4,000ft saw about 3 inches of snow Tuesday night and may see another inch or so today. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for Ventura County and interior Santa Barbara Mountains. Travel along the I-5 Tejon pass may be difficult with the slick roads and winds upwards of 50mph. Coastal areas will be impacted with high surf, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a High Surf Advisory for the entire Central Coast. Waves North of Point Conception could be upwards of 7FT while Ventura County can expect the highest waves, around 10FT. A Wind Advisory is in effect for the Santa Barbara South Coast starting at 3pm Wednesday evening until early Thursday. Winds will stream in from the Northwest and will gust up to 50mph in some areas.
By Thursday morning our rain chances diminish down to around a 30% chance and most models show us staying dry. Winds will stay blustery Thursday morning but will start to die down as we continue through the day. High pressure begins to build in causing mostly sunny skies, dry conditions and slightly warmer temperatures. Offshore winds will warm most of the area about 5-7 degrees, but even with this warming trend we will fail to make it to average temperatures. Expect highs in the upper 50s to lower 60s.
Friday looks to be even warmer with more dry and settled conditions. It will be a rather pleasant day with sunny skies and slightly warmer temperatures. We still wont quite rebound back to normal with temperatures warming into the middle 60s. We are tracking the next round of wet weather into the weekend, but as of now it looks as though the original storms forecasting may just miss the area. The First Alert Weather Center will be tracking this development but it is safe to say temperatures will tumble yet again, back into the upper 50s snd lower 60s.
