Good morning, Central Coast! It is the start of a soggy Saturday as a low-pressure system swings through the region and brings a rare late-season storm. I will update this story as the storm progresses. check back here and on the Meteorologist Vivian Rennie Facebook page for the latest.
Before I get into the forecast here are a few links that are helpful to have on hand during storms.
——— 8 a.m. Update from Meteorologist Vivian Rennie ———As expected, the frost is pushing east of our coastal communities and is now bringing heavier rain to the interiors.
From the first segment of the storm the SLO county north coast picked up around a tenth of an inch. Coastal valleys are closer to a quarter of an inch with Lompoc near half an inch,
Now we will start to see the transition to the second half of the storm, showers will become much more scattered but will also have some thunder potential.
——— Original Article———
This morning a low pressure is traversing the Central Coast and bringing rain, winds, snow potential and thunderstorms this afternoon.
The cold front associated with the core low pressure brought a band of heavy rain to the far south western beaches by 4 a.m. and is continuing to push east. It is moving quickly and will bring significant and localized heavy rain to all of the Central Coast through 9 a.m.
This is a simulated radar view for 6 a.m. Check out those SB county interiors, temps are low enough that snow is a possibility.
Once the core system moves on the nature of the storm will shift. Showers will be more scattered but what they lack in spread, they will make up for with intensity.
Some of the storms may include thunder. Remember that when thunder roars...head indoors.
The storms will continue through the afternoon but by the later evening, the bulk of the atmospheric instability will have moved on. A few scattered showers with very light accumulation is still expected through Sunday. Thankfully, the tail end will impact local events significantly less.
Thankfully, the storm is quite mild, staying below advisory criteria for almost all possible concerns. The only alert in place is a winter weather advisory for the interior high elevations of Santa Barbara County through 7 p.m. Saturday night. Snow is expected above 4000 ft and the highest peaks could pick up 2-4 inches. It will mostly melt before anyone can get out there to enjoy it but rural roads may have some concern.
All said and done, rain totals will be decent. Interiors will see the least, with some near a quarter inch, but coastal valleys and our beaches can expect substantially more. Half to three-quarters of an inch is expected, with some higher elevations looking closer to an inch.
Thankfully, that level of rain is easily absorbed by our dry ground. I don't anticipate any widespread flooding or adverse impacts.
While we are here, I will throw in some of the forecast staples. First, here are temps you can expect today.
And here are the 7-day forecasts. Once this system clears a high pressure will build in and temps will climb substantially into a sunny week ahead.
Have a great day, Central Coast!
