Santa Barbara and Santa Maria both set high-temperature records Tuesday, just days after the Central Coast shivered through several below-freezing nights.
The thermometer topped out at 82 degree in both cities, according to the National Weather Service.
Those readings topped a record for Jan. 6 of 78 degrees set in 1964 in Santa Barbara, and 80 degrees set in 1962 and 1918 in Santa Maria.
The unseasonably warm days are due to a ridge of high pressure over the region, which is expected to give way to a more typical pattern, and cooler weather, later in the week, forecasters said.
Wednesday is expected to also see highs in the 80s — and possibly more records broken— but by Saturday highs should be back in the mid-60s, forecasters said.
No rainfall is expected through out least early next week.
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— 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.