Articles by author: Jack Martin

Good Wednesday morning,

Well not so good if you are in the path of the numerous fires.

One more day of wild winds in LA, the winds currently are 70 to 90 miles an hour on the hill tops. The winds are blowing so hard that there are no planes, or helicopter able to fly, they are all grounded until the winds calm down. The damage will just continue

You can see the northeast winds diving down on zoom earth https://zoom.earth/

There are many power outages that are planned because of the heavy winds, right now most the outages are in the LA area, but locally, The hills above Goleta have just had power turned off to prevent possible fires due to down powerlines.

As we are all aware the real impact is in Palisades area where the fire has taken a lot of homes. It was crazy watching the news where people were trying to get out in their cars and decided to just abandon them and started walking or running away.

I was there during the painted cave fire, stuck on cathedral oaks. It was wild with the smoke blowing right over head.

Today in Santa Barbara and most of Ventura the winds will calm to ½ of what they were. LA , like Palisades, and Malibu areas will see one more day of crazy. Winds should begin to back down Thursday morning.

The bad news is it looks like another Santa Ana event Friday into Saturday affection the LA area again.

We will get a break from the wind sometime Saturday, then onshore flow will return. looking into next week high confidence through Monday with the forecast. Tuesday some mixed thoughts with a possibility of a cut off low forming. We will have to see what this does, but it might just cause another Santa Ana.

Rain ??? well none in site at this point, but models are point us towards the week of the 20th.

Regarding temps, warm days in the upper 60s to mid-70s, nights will cool off quickly especially in wind sheltered areas that will see freezing temps.

Hang in there, in Santa Barbara we have been in the heart of these fires many times in the past, this time we just are watching them from a close distance. January is normally rainy season, but this year it is fire season, which is typically in spring and fall.

I have included the current power outage areas so you can see… I am glad I have solar with back up batteries.

UPDATE: As we face the current windstorm, your safety remains our top priority.

We are currently experiencing a significant number of weather-related power outages and Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) throughout our service area due to strong winds and wildfire-weather conditions. To prioritize the safety of our crews and your community, we will restore power once the winds have settled, and our power lines are safely inspected.

Here are important reminders and resources to help you stay safe and informed:

SAFETY REMINDERS:

Stay Away from Downed Power Lines: If you encounter a downed power line, stay far away and call 9-1-1 immediately. Then, report it to SCE’s emergency line at 1-800-611-1911.
Secure Outdoor Items: Bring in or secure any outdoor furniture, decorations, or other items that could become projectiles.
Emergency Kit: Ensure you have essentials like water, non-perishable food, flashlights, batteries, and a first aid kit readily available.
STAY INFORMED:

Get Outage Alerts: Receive outage alerts by email, text, or voice call. You can also sign up for PSPS alerts for a different address other than your account address. Sign up for outage alerts.
Review and Update your Contact Information: Log in to your online account to confirm your outage notification and alert preferences are correct for email, text, and/or voice calls.
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR POWER IS OUT:

Outage Map: If your power goes out, you can find or report this information on our outage map. It also shows the areas that are shut off or under consideration for PSPS.
Community Resource: If you need additional support during an outage, please call 2-1-1 for assistance.
Outage Safety Tips: Review our safety tips for what to do during an extended power outage.
We are committed to helping you stay safe and informed.

Sincerely,

Jessica Lim
Director, Customer Experience
Customer Programs & Services
Southern California Edison

Good Tuesday morning,

The winds arrived last night in Montecito as expected clocking 69 miles an hour. These are northeast winds that will continue through Wednesday, however, the heaviest winds are over for our area.

The heaviest winds will shift to the south today and winds will continue into Friday
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?x=192&y=120&site=lox&zmx=&zmy=&map_x=192&map_y=120

Temperatures will be on the mild side during the day in the low 70s to the upper 60s. Then cool at night with wind sheltered area wrapping into the freezing mark. Coastal however, should stay in the upper 40s to mid 50s

The wind event will be over by Friday, and some cooling will begin

As mentioned previously, very dry conditions through this week and into next.

Jack Martin

Good Monday morning 2025,

Amen, the Christmas-new year’s holiday is over.

It felt like the holiday would never end, I hate Christmas and new years on a Wednesday. But it is over now and here we go with a new year…. 2025 is Action’s 40th anniversary.

It is hard to believe that 40 years have gone by, but it all started in 1985.

Now the weather update …. As we are all aware it is the rainy season, but you would never know it, with really no rain for the season. We have had less than an inch since April ….. that’s not good.

There is weather excitement for Southern California, but it is not in the form of rain. It is all about the wind, we will see a few Santa’s Ana events this week starting tonight into Wednesday, then another Thursday into the weekend. This event will affect the LA mountains the most with winds on mountain tops of up to 95 miles an hour.

This will make for extreme fire danger, because the air is so dry, and the winds will be crazy. Down power lines are likely in areas and trees. This will affect mainly LA county, but Ventura county and Montecito hills will still feel the wind, but not as severe.

In Santa Barbara, no real wind just warmer day time temps highs in the 70s. Those folks on the East coast wish they could have 70s, because they are getting an arctic blast right now.

Night time temps especially in areas with no wind will be quite cold. Freezing temps in wind sheltered areas like Santa Ynez.
https://www.weather.gov/lox/

It does look like dry conditions all the way through the next 7 days due to the dome of high pressure and Santa Ana winds.

So when will it finally rain ????

Models did call for a shift in the Action mid January , so that would be the week after this, but the latest long range models are now calling for dry until the 20th of January.

That is not good news in my book, we really need some rain and roofs to leak. I am quickly getting caught up on our work load, and it is time to create more though leaky roofs.

Enjoy the continued dry weather, “that I can not control …"

Have a great first real work week of 2025. It is time for all the Action to begin again.

Jack Martin

Good Monday morning,

I hope everyone had a great weekend getting ready for the Christmas holiday.

It is going to be a funky week with Christmas on a Wednesday. With that the weather in the middle of the week is the same. Today we will be dry, but a weak weather system will arrive like Santa’s on Christmas Eve day.

Today for the most part it is 60s and dry. Nothing exciting today, but some higher surf and coastal flooding.

Recent models have also began to back off rain further to the south. This has been the theme so far this rainy season.

Tonight a 30% chance of rain, but rain does not arrive until the 24th Tuesday.

Rain north to south and rainfall of 1/2 to an inch in SLO then totals drop quickly as the system moves south. LA may only see 1/10 of an inch, but SB more in the 1/4 inch range.
https://zoom.earth/

It does look like dry weather returns Christmas Day and remains into the new year.

Bottom line we are getting off to a very slow start to our rainy season, but it is really about January and February moving forward. It does appear the storm track will begin to move south by mid January. In the mean time a little rain Tuesday then dry weather into the new year.

Have a great holiday, I will check in on the 24th with a weather update

Enjoy the quiet work week, with not a lot of Action till Thursday because of the holiday and rain Tuesday.

Jack Martin

Good Friday morning,

What a week it has been in our neck of the woods. High pressure has made our weather fantastic with 70s and some 80s all week. Just the best weather for Christmas.

A dome of High pressure still remain over us pushing storms to the north, however, on shore flow is back and so is the fog. Today we will see cooler temps because of the fog, but still upper 60s for all. https://zoom.earth/

So what’s ahead? Well lots if your asking me. Saturday is winter solstice… we will celebrate the shortest day of the year, each day after will be slightly longer.

As far as weather goes. Storm systems still are tracking well to the north, but it does look like systems will brush us over a number of days. SLO will see some rain Saturday and then Monday into Tuesday but only fog here this weekend.

Next week it does look like the tail end of Monday - Tuesday system will bring us a little rain … stress the little side … maybe 1/10 to 1/4 on Christmas Eve day. Light rain 10 am to 4 pm.

After that it looks like high pressure builds back in and we will see dryer weather into the new year. Christmas Day will be just another fantastic day here in Santa Barbara, it will be a great day to FaceTime family from the beach. 🏝️

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I will keep you up to date on the weather.

5 days till Christmas 🎅

Jack Martin

Good Monday morning,

It is the week before Christmas in southern Californian and our present will be 70s to 80 degrees all week long.
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-119.66514587402342&lat=34.42956713470528

Now for a little detail…

First I hope we all had a nice weekend, Christmas is now 9 days away.
Saturday was interesting with around 90 minutes of light rain in the middle of the day, but it is over now for at least the next 7 days.

Today a weak system will cause sprinkles in SLO and nothing here.
High pressure is building in for the week and we will on and off Santa Ana winds.

Today 35 to 45 with a mild event, then mid week a stronger evert through Thursday.

High this week will be in the 70s for all and a few valleys will strike the low 80s.

It will be chilly at night as clear skies after the sun goes down will make it quite chilly.

Maybe a weak system for the weekend, but at this point it looks to be dry.

Bottom line there is no rain in site, enjoy the winter-summer weather in December in Southern California.

Jack Martin

Happy Friday the 13th. If you’re superstitious, you might want to stay in bed.

For me it is up and at 'em. Ready to go….

How about that rain storm yesterday, I think it rained for 5 minutes and we basically got a trace of rain only. Areas to the north got a 1/4 of an inch, but for the most part it was the tail end of the system and it hit dry air which made any moistures evaporite.

Today, a weak ridge will keep us dry today and Saturday during the day.
Saturday it looks like we will see rain later in the day Saturday, but to the south here in SB it will be a repeat of Thursday, with very little rain falling. 1/10 to 1/4 at best.

Sunday, northeast winds and warming. A nice overall day…

Monday one more weak system passing through Monday afternoon. Not much with this one also.

Looking beyond it looks like dry weather the rest of next week and a moderate Santa Ana wind event mid week.

Bottom line we are and remain in a rain shadow so far this season. The atmospheric river is remaining to the north and not affecting us at this point. If the long range models are correct this will change in January of 2025.

Have a great weekend, only some sprinkles or light rain unless you are in NorCal where they are getting lots of rain this weekend due to a weak Atmospheric river.

Jack Martin

Good Tuesday morning,

The rain here really has not materialized to this point, but it is extremely interesting how much rain has fallen just to the north.

Pismo beach has seen 2.5 inches. Paseo 2 inches and normally drier Santa maria has seen an inch. Here just a little over ¼ of an inch and only 1/10 of an inch yesterday.

The reason for this is the low has not pushed the moisture stream over us, as it has stayed to the north. The parent lows circulation is not even noticeable any more

https://zoom.earth/maps/satellite/ Current radar shows rain continuing to the North over Santa Maria https://radar.weather.gov/station/KVBX/standard

Today a warm start to the day 57 degrees in SB and in Santa Ynez. I do think we will finally see rain, but lighter amounts as a southerly moisture will reach us mid-morning today. Today we should see around ¼ of an inch locally.

Rainfall will remain lighter more Seattle like, with light rain and drizzle. Rain chances will end tonight and Wednesday we will see the sun again, just in time for the holiday. Wednesday should be in the upper 60s to 70 degrees and Thanksgiving day a light Santa Ana event will begin to warm us up through the rest of the week, with highs into the low 70s. It will be one of the Holidays that we can go to the beach and send photos and videos to family in the Midwest and on the East coast.

Dry weather is expected through the week, and it will be a great holiday weekend to be in Santa Barbara.

All in all we will call this a fire drill for rain chances since we have talked about it, and it really has been extremely light.

The Thanksgiving holiday is fast approaching so let’s gear up for sunshine and great weather

Enjoy, we will talk about warmer and sun on Wednesday

Light rain is falling at my Goleta yard https://ring.com/share/fca74d52-d130-43a6-b0bf-4c9ec47cfd7d

Jack Martin

Good Friday morning,

This morning in Santa Barbara changes are in the air with dampness and fog to start the day. Santa Barbara is warmer this morning because of the marine layer, but Santa Ynez is a chilly 36 degrees.

Today will be the last day of dryness for the extended forecast. Models appear to be aligned with wet weather through the period.

Rain will start up over night and totals have increased slightly for the first system. SLO and SB are looking at 1/3 to 3/4 tonight and Saturday.

Saturday night and Sunday we will see a break, before the next wave arrives Sunday night through Tuesday now. Trends are increasing the rain totals through the period to last longer and increase the total to 1.5 inches and some areas in the hills could see up to 3 inches.

It looks like rain will persist through Tuesday then only a slight chance Wednesday and on thanksgiving day. For the most part it will be dry.

It does appear we will see lots of Action and the first larger rainfall Sunday night into Tuesday.

Action will have teams in place in case we you need help during the upcoming rains.

Stay dry, enjoy the rain and turn off the sprinklers, you will not need them for awhile.

Jack Martin

Good Thursday morning,

One week from today is Thanksgiving, crazy that the holiday season is upon us.

With the holiday season each year the rainy season begins, it is hard to believe it has been 6 months since we have seen rain.

Northern California has been getting hammered with rain, but the low pressure is staying to the north and will not move much, which will make the totals and intensity less for us for this first system of the season. https://zoom.earth/

We are very spoiled in southern California thinking we can go this long without real rain. Sure we have had drizzle and some light stuff, but this will be the first real rain.

The good news is the rain intensity and total are getting clearer, and we will now see minimal amounts of rain to start the first real system.

It looks like we will see rain start up overnight Friday, and into Saturday. How much, well here in SB 1/2 an inch to 1 inch of rain during the Friday and Saturday period.

Ventura to LA ¼ to ¾ Saturday. Rain rates will be minimal with 1/10 to ¼ of an inch per hour. This will be helpful in the burn areas in Camarillo.

Sunday is a little more in doubt, but it looks like a mostly dry day until Sunday night. Then the low should begin to move towards us bringing more rain Sunday night into Monday. Looks like another ¼ to ½ inch. All in all SB should see 1 inch or less over the entire period.

Monday it is possible to see rain to start the day, depending on how the low moves.

Tuesday and Wednesday are still not clear, but it looks like somewhat dry weather into early December.

Ok time to get ready for the first rain, but the next 2 days will be dry until Friday night. today will be warm and sunny.

TURN OFF YOUR SPRINKERS for at least the next week 😊

Jack Martin