Vehicles jam East Camino Cielo in the mountains above Santa Barbara as people flock to the area to play in the snow. Several vehicles were reported getting stuck. Credit: Ray Ford / Noozhawk photo
Noozhawk takes time at the end of each year to reflect on the important stories and memorable images from our news coverage.
Santa Barbara County started the year with a lot of rain. Enough rain to fill up Lake Cachuma and make it spill for the first time since 2011.
Storms caused major damage to neighborhoods, parks and roadways, and communities are still reckoning with the impacts.
To add to the weather bingo game of 2023, there was snow in the Santa Ynez Mountains, a tornado that damaged homes in Carpinteria, a “hurriquake” (an earthquake during a tropical storm warning, really) and a double rainbow.
And then in December, there was more flooding from rainstorms, especially in Santa Barbara, and high surf that caused numerous ocean rescue emergency calls and flooding of harbor areas and beach parks.
2023 was also notable for its full schedule of festivals and fairs. Many of the region’s popular community events were canceled or scaled back during the COVID-19 pandemic years, but most of them returned this year if they hadn’t already.
Scroll through some of Noozhawk’s photos from 2023 below.
With even more water than it usually has, Santa Barbara’s Castillo Street underpass at the Union Pacific railroad tracks and Highway 101 was especially impassable on Jan. 9, 2023. Credit: Ryan Cullom / Noozhawk photoA gaping hole sits on the side of Union Valley Parkway after a sinkhole sent water into homes in Orcutt and sandy soil into a neighborhood in January 2023.An impromptu snowboard run in the mountains above Santa Barbara. Credit: Ray Ford / Noozhawk photoAfter much anticipation and even more rain, Lake Cachuma fills and spills, with flows heading downstream of Bradbury Dam in February. Credit: Lael Wageneck / Santa Barbara County Public Works photoMontecito Award honoree Angela Bassett greets fans outside the Arlington Theatre during the February Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Credit: Fritz Olenberger photoActress Jamie Lee Curtis takes a selfie in front of the Arlington Theatre, where she was honored with the Maltin Modern Master Award at the 38th Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February. Credit: Fritz Olenberger photoFierce winds and a rare tornado damaged more than two dozen homes at a Carpinteria mobile home park in March. Volunteers helped residents pick up the pieces. Credit: Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District photo
Spring
Wildflowers add spring color to Figueroa Mountain, one of several locations in Santa Barbara County boasting a super bloom after heavy winter rains. The flowers were so glorious and so many people went to the area that the California Highway Patrol did extra traffic enforcement on Figueroa Mountain Road. Credit: Andreea Swanson photoBrisa Garcia, 18 months old, samples a strawberry during Santa Maria’s April Strawberry Festival. Credit: Janene Scully / Noozhawk photoIt’s a family affair for, from left, Alfonso, Yesenia and Aubriella Castillo as they help walk Lompoc FFA projects back to their pens after a brief stint in the ring at the Santa Maria Fairpark. Credit: Janene Scully / Noozhawk photoGraduates stop to take a photo with a guest at UC Santa Barbara’s commencement ceremony for its graduate division. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photo
Summer
An artist works on a float at the Summer Solstice Workshop ahead of the annual Santa Barbara parade. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photoDancers, floats, puppets and costumes of all kinds make their way up Santa Barbara Street during the Solstice Parade. Credit: Fritz Olenberger photoLed by Spirit of Fiesta Jack Harwood, the Old Spanish Days Historical Parade marches along East Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara on Aug. 4. Credit: Fritz Olenberger / Old Spanish Days photoSunday’s double rainbow, seen just before sunset from the “Bridge to Nowhere” at the San Marcos Foothills Preserve above Santa Barbara. Credit: Julie Olson von Winckelmann photo
Fall
Spectators watch the annular solar eclipse through a telescope and eclipse glasses from the Camino Real Marketplace in Goleta in October. Credit: Rebecca Caraway / Noozhawk photoNavy veteran Gilbert Flores, left, gets a haircut from local barber Oscar Meraz, while Army veteran Ronnie True gets a trim from Alejandra Gonzalez of Landmark Barbers at the Santa Barbara County Veterans Stand Down in October in Santa Maria. Credit: Janene Scully / Noozhawk photoSanta Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse welcomes Mr. Monopoly to town and unveils the new city-themed edition of the game in November. Credit: Serena Guentz / Noozhawk photoHousing Element updates mandated by the state put housing policy and development into city discussions all year long. This 84-unit housing project is under construction on East Gutierrez Street in Santa Barbara. Credit: Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photo
Winter
Hundreds of Dos Pueblos High School students march from the school while calling for pay increases for Santa Barbara Unified School District teachers. Other local high schools followed as the contract negotiations continue between the school district and teachers union. Credit: Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photoAnthony Dal Bello, the namesake behind Anthony’s Christmas Trees, retired in 2018 but still pops in from time to time to say hello to longtime customers and help out where he can at the tree lot at Earl Warren Showgrounds. Anthony’s has been a Christmas staple in Santa Barbara since 1954. Credit: Rebecca Caraway / Noozhawk photoOrcutt Union School District Elementary Band members perform with decorated instruments in the Old Town Orcutt Christmas Parade. Credit: Janene Scully / Noozhawk photoThe Santa Barbara High School Band & Guard performs in the Milpas Street Holiday Parade in Santa Barbara. Credit: Ray Ford / Noozhawk photoFlooding Dec. 21 on Calle Puerta Vallerta on Santa Barbara’s waterfront. Credit: Ray Ford / Noozhawk photoVehicles make their way through flooded roads at East Yanonali Street and Calle Cesar Chavez in Santa Barbara on Dec. 21. Credit: Peter Hartmann / Noozhawk photoA large wave slams into the breakwater at the Santa Barbara Harbor on Dec. 28. Credit: Ray Ford / Noozhawk photoOcean swells push up against the seawall at Butterfly Beach in Montecito on Dec. 28. Credit: Ray Ford / Noozhawk photoA surfer glides across the face of a towering wave at Rincon Point on Dec. 28 during a high surf advisory. Credit: Ray Ford / Noozhawk photo
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