Rain and lightning illuminated the county’s night sky late Tuesday night. 

Lightning also struck across Santa Barbara County with a high of 54 strikes an hour around 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., according to National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Kittell. He estimated the number of strikes in the hours following were in the 50 per hour range. 

NWS reports the lightning presence as a rare occurrence and most of the thunderstorm activity happened over the ocean. 

Thunderstorms over land could bring other impacts such as lightning fires and increased rain amounts, flash flooding and debris flow in vulnerable areas such as recent burn scars. 

The county received less than an inch of rain in the 24-hour period ending Wednesday morning, with Buellton recording the highest at 0.63 inches, according to county rain gauges.

Santa Barbara recorded 0.26 inches, Santa Maria recorded 0.32 inches, Lompoc recorded 0.41 inches, Solvang recorded 0.53 inches, Goleta recorded 0.14 inches and Carpinteria recorded 0.07 inches. 

The weather forecast earlier this week predicted Tuesday and Wednesday as the wettest days due to a low-pressure system above the Central Coast and Southern California. 

Going forward, the rest of the week’s forecast is for patchy fog and sunny conditions across the county.

Carpinteria may be on the cooler side with a daytime high of 67 to 68 for Thursday and Friday. Meanwhile Santa Ynez may see a warmer side with a daytime high of 80 to 82 on Thursday and Friday. Santa Barbara, Goleta, Santa Maria and Lompoc areas have daytime high temperatures forecasted in the range of 72 to 75.

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