Two storms are moving into the Santa Barbara South Coast area this week, with chances of rain just about every day until early next week.
The first is expected to land Tuesday and run through Thursday, with Wednesday night forecasted to have the highest chance of precipitation, at 70 percent.
The storm is expected to drop a quarter-inch to a half-inch of rain in most areas, said Scott Sukup, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Friday is the one sunny day projected for this week.
The second storm on its way, “potentially the biggest rainmaker,” is forecasted to douse the South Coast sometime between Saturday and Monday.
The chance of rain is expected to end sometime next Tuesday, if not a bit earlier, Sukup said.
“There is some concern for flooding,” he noted, but recommended people just keep an eye on the forecast.
California has so far seen a relatively normal winter in terms of rainfall, providing mild drought relief to at least some northern parts of the state.
Santa Barbara, however, is still slightly below normal for the current water year, which began Oct. 1, Sukup said.
“This year has been a little bit wetter than last,” he added.
According to the county Public Works Department, the city as of Tuesday morning has seen 5.45 inches of rain since Sept. 1, or 96 percent of normal.
North County has generally been well above average, according to Public Works data, though the county-wide, normal-to-date rainfall percentage sits at 97 percent.
Along with the rain forecast, highs in Santa Barbara this week are forecasted to run in the high 50s to low 60s, with nights in the low- to mid-50s.
On Sunday, Santa Barbara’s latest water-conservation effort — a lawn-watering moratorium — went into effect.
Subject to a number of exemptions, the city has said that the ban, intended to boost Santa Barbara’s conservation rate to 40 percent, could be lifted or modified should the winter be generous with its precipitation.
— 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.