Although the first in a series of three storms is unlikely to leave much of a trace in Santa Barbara County on Sunday, a second storm dropping down from the Gulf of Alaska may deliver as much as an inch of rain on the South Coast by Tuesday.
The National Weather Service said the area north of Point Conception could get showered on with Sunday’s storm, but a colder and stronger low-pressure system is expected to rain on the entire county, beginning Monday afternoon.
The weather service said rain is forecast to develop along the Central Coast late Monday afternoon, with the bulk of the storm expected to hit Tuesday. Rainfall totals ranging from a quarter-inch to three-quarters of an inch are likely, with up to an inch in some areas.
Blustery winds and a thunderstorm or two also are possible, the weather service said. Snow is expected on backcountry mountains as low as 5,000 feet.
Sunday’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies on the South Coast, with daytime high temperatures in the 60s to low 70s and winds of 15 to 25 mph below canyons and passes. Overnight lows should drop into the mid-40s with 20 to 30 mph winds.
The weather service said Monday’s conditions include partly cloudy skies and cooler daytime highs in the mid-50s to mid-60s.
The chance of rain is listed at 20 percent Monday afternoon, before rising to 70 percent overnight and tapering off to a 50 percent chance of showers Tuesday. The threat of precipitation will continue to diminish until the storm moves on sometime Wednesday morning, the weather service said.
Meanwhile, a third storm system is expected to bring a chance of rain to the region late Thursday and into early Friday.
» Click here for the complete National Weather Service forecast.
» Click here for the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management. Click here to sign up for the OEM’s messaging service. Connect with the Office of Emergency Management on Facebook. Follow the OEM on Twitter: @SBCountyOEM.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
