Winter weather may be over but extreme and unusual conditions are likely ‘the norm’

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - After getting walloped by winter storms....how are you looking back on the weird weather we had.

"I think the new normal is, you don't know what you are going to get," said Matt Mudano along the Santa Barbara waterfront.

Many people said they never saw it coming.

"No! No, Did not at all totally surprised," said Tony Cefalu about the deluge he went through.

As we transition with some sunny days, comes this perspective about cycles.

"Things happen," said Cefalu. "How do I know what happened in 1787, 1805,  1892? Things just go like this," he said while making a gesture that went in a wave configuration.

Heavy rain is one thing, but getting a destructive tornado in Carpinteria like we saw recently rip awnings and trees, wasn't in anyone's playbook.

The National Weather Service recently came through in person and told us to be prepared for changing environments.

The Meteorologist in Charge from the National Weather Service office in Oxnard, Ariel Cohen, said,  "climate change certainly can influence controls over the types of weather systems and favorability of the smaller scale localized incidents. There's a lot more to learn about that."

We also heard that from Governor Gavin Newsom on a stop here to view storm recovery work in Montecito.

Newsom said, "the question is are we resilient enough? Do we have a mindset for resilience? Are we resourceful enough to be more creative so that we can, thrive not just survive through this new reality."

The hardest rain we have seen to start the year is behind us now but what is still left to be seen is what's ahead of us and whether or not we will see an extreme heat condition this summer.

Mudano said, "a couple of degrees makes all the difference in the world. The people that say 'oh what is one degree?' It is a huge deal if you know what you are talking about."

With that, don't be surprised when the winter impacts affect your summer fun.

Traveling down the coast from the Bay Area to Santa Barbara, Kathy Mudano said she didn't get the scenery she wanted, "especially the areas along the coast and we were also not able to drive the whole way down as we had planned to do because it was closed (from winter damage.)"

Also having an oppressive heat wave like we did last summer may not be that unusual.

Cefalu said, "growing up I remember as a kid in August you get that 107.108 (degrees.) At nighttime you don't want the blankets on you."   

With the valve now off on the rain and getting a chance to dig into his spring garden, he laughed, "I just want to get my tomatoes in the ground O.K.!"

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