Santa Barbara County residents could see their first taste of the rainy season Friday, when cooler temperatures and showers return to the area.
A cold front will drop temperatures into the lower to mid-60s and bring an unstable weather pattern that might include rain and even thunderstorms in the Santa Ynez Valley, according to Bonnie Bartling, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service Office in Oxnard.
Patchy fog and drizzle Friday morning should make way for a 20-percent chance of afternoon showers on the South Coast and a 70-percent chance in the evening, Bartling said.
“The best chance is after midnight,” she said.
In Santa Maria and Lompoc, the chance for Friday afternoon showers increases to 40 percent, Bartling said, noting high temperatures could dip into the upper 50s.
Showers could continue into Saturday, with the chance of rain hovering between 20 to 40 percent throughout the Central Coast, she said.
The Santa Barbara mountains could even see some snow fall Saturday morning above 6,000 feet, Bartling said.
Accumulations should be relatively low or nonexistent, however, especially on the South Coast.
The Santa Maria area could see a quarter to half an inch of rain, while Santa Barbara would be lucky to see between a tenth and a quarter of an inch, Bartling said.
“Unfortunately, it’ll probably be mostly showers,” she said.
Bartling said a warming trend was expected to return by Monday.
[Click here for the updated forecast]
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.