The weather had a small surprise in store for southern Santa Barbara County overnight Thursday, dropping generally small amounts of rain despite only a slight chance of precipitation being forecasted for the area.
Forecasters had called for precipitation to mostly remain in the North County, north of Pt. Conception, but a cold front carrying a lot of moisture stalled out over the Central Coast, according to Scott Sukup, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
There’s still a slight chance the South Coast could see more rain through Sunday morning, Sukup said, while cities further north, including Santa Maria, are more likely to see extra precipitation.
Santa Barbara and Goleta saw less than a tenth of an inch of rain, while Santa Maria received half an inch, according to the county’s Public Works Department,
Guadalupe had the wettest night in the county, with close to 0.9 inches.
Highs in Santa Barbara over the weekend are expected to be in the mid-60s, with lows in the mid-50s.
A 20-percent chance of rain is projected for Saturday and Saturday night on the South Coast, with higher likelihood in the North County.
There is a “pretty good chance” of rain throughout the county next week, Sukup said.
Forecasters are still uncertain when it will begin to fall, but Sukup said he expected more rain to come sometime between Tuesday and Friday.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.