Though we’re well into spring, the wet winter that provided California with more water than anyone dared hoped for offered one last offering in Santa Barbara County Tuesday.
Light showers were forecasted to drop from a tenth of an inch to a quarter of an inch of rain on Santa Barbara by the end of the day, according to the National Weather Service.
Santa Maria set a record for rainfall Tuesday with 0.86 inches, passing the old record of 0.54 inches set in 1967, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 4:30 p.m., Lompoc had received 0.21 inches, Buellton had received 0.10 inches, Goleta had received 0.21 inches, Santa Barbara had received 0.21 inches and Carpinteria had received 0.14 inches, according to the county Public Works Department.
Tuesday’s rain follows the meteorological patterns that created this winter’s stronger rainstorms, said Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services’s Oxnard office.
“It’s similar in some respects to some of the storms we saw this winter,” but weaker, he said.
Though it remains to be seen if winter-type rain is done for good this year, the region is entering a quieter, drier period, Munroe said.
Even with winter’s storms, Santa Barbara County is not set to break any seasonal precipitation records — it’s still in the heart of what’s left of California’s drought — but January and February witnessed nearly three times the normal amount of rainfall, according to NWS data.
According to the Public Works Department, the county will have received 131 percent of normal precipitation this water year, even without any more rain through the end of August.
After showers dissipate Tuesday afternoon, the rest of the week is forecast to be sunny with a couple breezy evenings, with highs in the upper 60s to mid-70s and lows in the 50s.
A full forecast can be found here.
— 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.