Chilly, blustery and possibly wet forecast, Jan 6th

An interesting that started out very sunny and has quickly seen an influx of clouds as our next storm system takes aim at the region. We have several watches, advisories and even a couple of warnings in place for the next couple of days. Overnight and very early Sunday showers are expected with little accumulations. Winds will turn quickly behind the system from north and widespread wind advisories and even warning are in place through Sunday evening. Most will be under advisory level northerly winds which means speeds should stay under 35 mph. However, portions of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, mountain mostly, will be under warning level which means wind speeds could easily go up near and above 50 mph. Chilly air is moving in with the storm and freeze watches are in place for early Sunday in northern Santa Barbara County and interior Ventura County. Above 3 thousand feet, snow could accumulate with 2 to 5 inches possible. Lastly, high surf advisories are posted for much of the region with the Central Coast seeing warning level waves of up to 20 feet possible through early Monday. High tide will be very early Sunday and Monday of about 5.5 feet. This coupled with a big swell and wind swell on top could easily make for coastal flooding and dangerous overflow near the shoreline. 

Looking ahead, high pressure is looking to stay strong just to the west of California which will act as buffer against a very active Pacific storm track. The tricky part is that the high is not directly over us which would completely shut the storm door. Rather it's just offshore enough to allow for a strong storm track to brush our region. This means that we could see an extended pattern of blustery, cold and quick chances for showers and low elevation snow. Our weather models continue to struggle with exact positions of high pressure and that means we will need to stay on top day to day variations. For now, expect to be using your heaters and jackets frequently and also keep the garden rake handy with expected northerly winds. We will be vigilant and update frequently what the storm track is doing with regard to wind, showers and wind.