High Wind Warning issued for parts of Santa Barbara County
UPDATE:
Southern California Edison sent a text to South County residents at 12:12 p.m. stating: “Due to current conditions, the Santa Barbara area has been removed from Public Safety Power Shutoff consideration.” The text has some other garbled language, and does not specify any specific areas of the south coast that may or may not remain under possible power outages. NewsChannel 3 has calls into SCE for clarification, and is working to get updated information as quickly as possible. As of Saturday morning, the number of southern Santa Barbara County residents estimated to be under possible power outage threat was reduced to 2,400.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The National Weather Service issued a High Wind Warning for parts of Santa Barbara County Saturday evening into Sunday afternoon.
The NWS says the warning is for Santa Barbara County interior and mountain areas from 6 p.m. Saturday to 12 p.m. Sunday. Forecasters expect 25 to 40 mile per hour winds with gusts of 60 miles per hour Saturday night and Sunday morning. The NWS says gusts of 60 to 70 miles per hour are possible near the Montecito Hills Saturday through early Sunday morning.
Southern California Edison has warned of potential power shutoffs in Santa Barbara County as winds pick up, however, the number of customers that would be impacted has fluctuated.
At one point Friday, more than 24,000 customers were under consideration for power outages, but that number dropped to just over 2,400 Saturday. That included people in Santa Barbara, Goleta, Carpinteria, and unincorporated areas including Orchams, El Encano Heights, Oak Park, Samarkand, North State, Cold Springs Canyon, Gaviota, Jalama Beach, Mission Canyon, Highway 154, El Capitan Park, Montecito, Summerland, Mibek Road, Sterrett Avenue, and Foothill Avenue.
The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management released an interactive map for people to check if they were in an area that could have power turned off.
For the latest weather updates from the First Alert Weather Team, click here.
KEYT 2019
