Three bolts of lightning strike the Santa Barbara Channel Monday evening as thunderstorms blew through the region. 
A red sky at night was no sailor’s delight as thunder and lightning struck the Santa Barbara area Monday night. 
A bolt of lightning strikes the Santa Barbara Channel Monday evening as thunderstorms blew through the region. 
Hendry’s Beach in Santa Barbara during a lightning storm. 
A lightning and thunder storm put on quite the show when it blasted Santa Barbara on Oct. 4. 
Large raindrops splatter the bike patch along East Beach in Santa Barbara at sunset as a line of thunderstorms hits the area. 
Storm clouds gather over the Goleta Valley Monday evening. 
A lightning bolt seen from the San Roque area of Santa Barbara. 
A lightning and thunder storm put on quite the show when it blasted Santa Barbara on Oct. 4. 
Multiple bolts of lightning. 
Lightning along the Santa Barbara skyline. 
Two photographers are illuminated by a lightning bolt in the Mesa in Santa Barbara. 
Lightning in the Santa Barbara sky. 
Lightning above homes in Summerland. 
Lightning seen from in front of the Santa Barbara Mission.
Thunder and lightning spawned by a tropical weather system to the south put on a dramatic show in parts of Santa Barbara County Monday night.
An upper-level low-pressure system centered off the coast of Baja California was pushing unstable moist air into the county, creating the requisite conditions for lightning and thunder, a relatively rare occurrance in the Santa Barbara area, according to Joe Sirard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
“Anytime Santa Barbara gets thunder and lighting, it’s pretty unusual,” Sirard said. “If you’ve lived there any amount of time, you’d know it’s pretty unusual.”
The county's South Coast bore the brunt of the storm, which prompted the National Weather Service to issue a special marine warning due to the chance of gusty winds and waterspouts.
The warning was in effect through 7:30 p.m. for the eastern Santa Barbara Channel — from Point Conception to Point Mugu — as the line of thunderstorms blew through the region.
“At 6:24 p.m., a cluster of strong thunderstorms capable of producing frequent lightning, gusty erratic winds, and possible waterspouts was located 16 nm northeast of Santa Barbara Island. The storms are moving to the northwest at 15 knots,” according to the NWS.
The county's mountain areas and North County communities also were experiencing thunder, lightning and scattered showers.
Emergency crews were kept busy throughout the evening, as lightning reportedly struck several palm trees and started fires, according to emergency radio traffic.
Numerous vehicle mishaps also were reported, but there were no serious injuries.
Several areas reported receiving more than a third of an inch of rain as of 9 p.m., according to the rainfall totals reported by the county's Public Works Department.
Additional waves of thunderstorms were likely later Monday night, Sirard told Noozhawk, but were expected to diminish by about 3 or 4 a.m. Tuesday.
“It should be dry after sunrise,” he added.
There is a 30% chance of additional rainfall later this week — on Thursday night — according to forecasters.
Click here for the latest forcast from the National Weather Service.
Noozhawk Executive Editor Tom Bolton contributed to this report.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
