A winter storm pushing through Santa Barbara County on Saturday spawned scattered heavy downpours, with higher elevations reporting treacherous road conditions due to snow and ice.
A gauge at the Trout Club community below San Marcos Pass recorded nearly 1.4 inches of rain between 2 and 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department.
Snow was reported along the higher reaches of Highway 154, especially in the mountaintop Painted Cave community.
At least two accidents were reported in the vicinity, including one with minor injuries, and emergency personnel were having difficulty reaching the scenes because of snow and ice, according to California Highway Patrol reports.
Painted Cave Road was reported closed by the CHP.
Rainfall amounts from the storm have varied widely, with the wettest areas being Trout Club and the Gaviota coast, which measured 1.59 inches in the 24-hour period ending at 5 p.m.
Santa Barbara, Goleta, Lompoc and Santa Maria all recorded about half an inch, while Santa Ynez got 0.62 inches and Montecito measured 0.21 inches.
National Weather Service forecasters were calling for a 20-percent chance of rain overnight Saturday, with partly cloudy skies and low along the coast in the upper-30s.
Clear skies were expected Sunday through the end of the week, including New Year’s Day, with high temperatures around 60 and lows in the low-40s.
Inland areas could see lows in the upper-20s, with patchy frost.
» Click here for the complete National Weather Service forecast.
» Click here for the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department’s interactive precipitation map.
» Click here for the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Services. Click here to sign up for the OES’ messaging service. Connect with the OES on Facebook.
— 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.