Santa Barbara County woke Monday to overcast but dry skies after a night of thunderstorms. The region is taking a breather from the month’s parade of rainstorms before wet weather returns Tuesday.
As of Monday morning, the past 24 hours had dropped close to an inch of rain on Santa Barbara, and almost 2 inches on Santa Maria.
In that same time, Goleta saw about 1.3 inches, Lompoc about 1.5 inches and the Santa Ynez Valley roughly 1.25 inches.
Despite the turbulent weather, no significant flooding damage was reported, though a few county roads were closed temporarily over the weekend.
Bonita School Road in Guadalupe has reopened, but Foothill Road in Cuyama from Kirschenmann Road to Highway 33 remained closed on Monday morning.
“We expect this road will remain closed throughout the week because there is still water flowing over it,” said county Public Works spokesman Lael Wageneck.
Portions of Black Road in Santa Maria have reopened as well, he said, though the city has the stretch between Stowell and Betteravia roads closed for storm cleanup, the city Public Works Department said.
No South County roads were closed due to flooding, Wageneck added.
From Tuesday through Friday in Santa Barbara, a 7-foot-plus high tide will be coming in every morning between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., said National Weather Service meteorologist David Sweet.
Any wind-whipped waves occurring at the same time, he said, could generate the minor possibility of a tidal overflow. No structures are expected to be threatened from a tidal overflow, but waves may come up to beach parking lots, he said.
“We’re going to be watching that closely,” Sweets said.
Another, cooler storm system is projected to land late Tuesday and run into Wednesday, and drop about half an inch to a full inch of precipitation, said NWS meteorologist Robbie Munroe.
Yet another storm is possible for Thursday. If it does materialize, it will be the coldest yet and could drop some snow in the Santa Barbara County mountains, he said.
At least a small chance of rain is forecasted every day and night through Thursday night but starting Friday, a high-pressure system bringing warmer, sunnier weather will take over, according to Munroe.
In Santa Barbara and Santa Maria, the greatest opportunity for rain will be Tuesday night, with 80-percent and 90-percent chances of rain, respectively.
In Santa Barbara, the likelihood for rain on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are 30 percent, 60 percent and 40 percent — roughly the same for Santa Maria.
Highs in Santa Barbara are forecasted to be in the high 50s to low 60s this week, with lows in the low 50s.
Since the beginning of the water year on Oct. 1, the city has seen 7.7 inches of rain through Monday morning, or 122 percent of normal for that period, according to NWS data.
In Santa Maria, the 7.6 inches has been good for 154 percent of normal.
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— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
