Santa Barbara had a microburst Sunday, bringing unexpectedly high winds and heavy rain to the Funk Zone and harbor areas.  (Santa Barbara City Fire Department photo)
  • Santa Barbara had a microburst Sunday, bringing unexpectedly high winds and heavy rain to the Funk Zone and harbor areas.
    Santa Barbara had a microburst Sunday, bringing unexpectedly high winds and heavy rain to the Funk Zone and harbor areas.
  • Crews repair damage caused by Sunday’s storm in Santa Barbara.
    Crews repair damage caused by Sunday’s storm in Santa Barbara.
  • Trees were uprooted and lost limbs at Plaza del Mar park near the Santa Barbara Harbor.
    Trees were uprooted and lost limbs at Plaza del Mar park near the Santa Barbara Harbor.
  • Trees were uprooted and lost limbs at Plaza del Mar park near the Santa Barbara Harbor.
    Trees were uprooted and lost limbs at Plaza del Mar park near the Santa Barbara Harbor.
  • Santa Barbara had a microburst Sunday, bringing unexpectedly high winds and heavy rain to the Funk Zone and harbor areas.
    Santa Barbara had a microburst Sunday, bringing unexpectedly high winds and heavy rain to the Funk Zone and harbor areas.
  • A tree crashed into the parking lot at Casa Blanca Restaurant on East Gutierrez Street.
    A tree crashed into the parking lot at Casa Blanca Restaurant on East Gutierrez Street.
  • A fishing boat retrieves small boats and kayaks that were torn loose from their mooring Sunday by a powerful thunderstorm that hit the Santa Barbara waterfront.
    A fishing boat retrieves small boats and kayaks that were torn loose from their mooring Sunday by a powerful thunderstorm that hit the Santa Barbara waterfront.
  • The intense, sudden thunderstorm sent beachgoers scattering at Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara.
    The intense, sudden thunderstorm sent beachgoers scattering at Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara.
  • Santa Barbara’s Sunday storm caused a break in train traffic as debris blew onto the tracks.
    Santa Barbara’s Sunday storm caused a break in train traffic as debris blew onto the tracks.

Santa Barbara’s sudden microburst storm, which brought heavy rain and 80 mph winds to the waterfront Sunday, was stronger than National Weather Service forecasters expected when they saw thunderstorms moving through the area.

The quick storm swamped watercraft, downed a lot of trees and sent beachgoers scrambling for cover during the busy Labor Day weekend.

There’s not a complete accounting of the damage yet, but very few injuries were reported, according to authorities.

Santa Barbara’s quick storm was a microburst with straight line wind damage, meaning it wasn’t like a tornado, said meteorologist Curt Kaplan with the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.

Microbursts are caused by a downdraft of air often found in strong thunderstorms.

As the thunderstorm moved through the area Sunday afternoon, part of it started to turn into Montecito and the mountains, and the National Weather Service issued a significant weather advisory, Kaplan said.

They saw what is called a “collapse,” when a thunderstorm is in its final stages.

The significant weather advisory expects winds of 40-50 mph and the possibility of hail, while a severe advisory assumes higher winds and larger hail, he added.

“Again, we were not expecting it to be that strong, it was quite the anomaly,” Kaplan said of Sunday’s microburst.

The warm conditions earlier that day, with higher morning coastal temperatures than forecast, could have caused the microburst to accelerate faster and cause such strong winds, he added.

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The National Weather Service released a preliminary local storm report Monday night which details some of the damage sustained in just two minutes, including roofs and cars damaged by fallen trees and flagpoles.

The landmark Morton Bay Fig tree near the Amtrak station was damaged, the report said. 

Trees were uprooted and lost limbs at Plaza del Mar park near the Santa Barbara Harbor.
Trees were uprooted and lost limbs at Plaza del Mar park near the Santa Barbara Harbor.  (Giana Magnoli / Noozhawk photo)

Monday was expected to be the tail end of the region’s high humidity, which was caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lidia, according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures were expected to rise along the South Coast through the rest of the week, with highs bouncing around in the 80s and cooling down for next weekend.

The marine layer will be back for the week, with low clouds and fog, according to the National Weather Service.

Responders were kept busy Sunday with water rescues, downed trees, power outages and other storm-related calls for service in the Santa Barbara Harbor and Funk Zone. 

Palm fronds still littered Cabrillo Boulevard Monday, and some downed trees lay where they fell, but Santa Barbara City Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim McCoy said no power outages were reported in the area and Public Works Department crews had been working hard to clean downed trees from all over the city. 

“Overall the city is in good shape and we continue to send crews out and kind of keep monitoring the cleanup,” said City Fire Battalion Chief Jim McCoy. “It looks like we survived.”

— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

Noozhawk executive editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.