Wednesday Morning Weather

This is the day we have been waiting for.... Kind of!

The idea is to get through the wind, and we will move on from this fire.

There is a low-pressure system moving down the coast right now. This will arrive here in our area this afternoon.

No rain, below Lompoc. However, it is about the wind for us in Santa Barbara tonight. It looks like the wind will begin to come up around 5 PM. It will blow fairly hard overnight.

Coastal: 15 to 25 miles per hour.

Mountains and valleys:  35 to 50 miles per hour.

This will be a classic sundowner event. This is typical of what we get at least 15 to 20 times a year. The only difference is the fire.

Here is the low marching towards us, spinning down the coast.

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/nepac/h5-loop-WV.HTML

The good news is the firemen seem to have a pretty good handle on the fires right now. They have even opened up more areas for people to return to their homes  yesterday.

The new open areas are from Foothill Rd into the mountains at Las Positas to the north. From the south Ladera Ln south is open to all again above East Valley Rd.

What is closed still... Las Positas south to Ladera above East Valley Rd and Foothill.

Here is the map, you can see it for yourself

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1ASoCEnK1yHaI2Of55E92EXF69JdFdIp-&ll=34.46829325564007%2C-119.78675266876223&z=12

The areas that they are keeping closed are the areas cause problems in the wind tonight. Hopefully as soon as the wind event goes though. They will lift all the mandatory areas.

Regarding the rest of the weather:

After the winds stop. It is going to be very cold. This might be the coldest temps of the year to date. Valleys and mountains are going to be freezing and below at night.

For the extended forecast.

No rain in site. Nice weather over the Christmas holiday

That's it for the day.