With concerns about drought growing day by day, Santa Barbara and the Central Coast saw summer-like conditions again Tuesday, including a record high set in Santa Maria.
The mercury topped out at 81 at 3:06 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Airport, missing the record for the date — set in 1991 — by a single degree, according to the National Weather Service.
However, Santa Maria did set a new mark with a reading of 83 degrees at the Santa Maria Public Airport. The previous record was 80 recorded in 1975.
Not a drop of rain has fallen at either end of Santa Barbara County in January, normally one of the area’s wettest months.
And as of Friday, Santa Barbara had received only 19 percent of normal precipitation — 1.25 inches — since the rain year began Sept. 1.
Santa Maria was at 15 percent of normal, while Goleta was at 16 percent, and there are no rain clouds on the horizon.
Forecasters are calling for sunny skies and daytime temperatures in the 70s for the next week, as high pressure remains stubbornly over the West Coast.
Overnight lows are expected in the upper-40s, and winds are forecast to remain light and variable.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.