Thursday Weather Update

Good Morning,

Did you miss me? We had a few days of no real excitement in weather, so I put my focus on real work stuff.

Now since we will have some action in the weather. I thought I needed to update you all. To tell the truth, the action is going to be limited. We have a system approaching out of the northwest that looks impressive in the picture.

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/west/nepac/h5-loop-wv.html

This however will have little rain impact on Santa Barbara. This system will drop south overnight. You will find high clouds ahead of this today.

Tonight, we will catch the tail end. The good news is the low stays more over water, which is better for rain. However, the winds are going to be from the northwest. This is never good for Santa Barbara, because of our rain shadow. If any rain falls, it will be on the lighter side.

The real focus is on the cold air. Snow level will be at 2500 feet Friday night. Freezing temps are possible. Maybe 2 to 5 inches on the grapevine. If this happens the highway system going north is going to be a real mess, with 101 still closed.

Saturday will be cold. The low is going to keep us very cool though the weekend, but no rain.

Monday and Monday night. Another weak system approaches. This also is weak and if any rain falls it will be on the lighter side.

It now looks like our next real chance of rain will be a week from today. Although this is still too far out to make any rain predictions.

Stay tuned, and enjoy a cool weekend.

Jack Martin