Edhat Staff
Update by the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management
August 19, 2023
The National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center are forecasting the potential for Hurricane Hilary to impact central and southern California counties,
Including any area within Santa Barbara County. Moderate to heavy rain, strong winds, coastal storm surge and erosion, and hazardous sea conditions are possible. These conditions may start locally as early as Sunday afternoon (August 20).
Evacuations are NOT being issued at this time. If you are concerned that this storm may cause unsafe conditions to your local roads and your home, leave the area before rain starts. Do not wait for an official evacuation notification to leave.
Residents should remain vigilant as conditions can change quickly. Residents are encouraged to:
- MONITOR the weather
- PREPARE and PROTECT your home now
- PLAN on how to get out and where you might go
More information is available at www.ReadySBC.org.
By the edhat staff
August 17, 2023
A tropical storm is scheduled to hit the Santa Barbara coast on Sunday as it works its way up from Baja California.
The storm, named Hilary, was upgraded to a tropical storm this past Wednesday and is expected to gain strength and develop into a hurrican as it crosses over warmer water.
Due to warmer El Niño waters the storm is expected to gather strength rather quickly. Our local waters are bit too cold for hurricane conditions so the storm is expected to weaken as it hits Southern California.
While the storm will downgrade from hurricane to tropical storm as it arrives, coastal Southern California can still expect rain, strong swells, and hazardous beach conditions as well as increased winds.
Total rainfall expected from the system is about 1-3 inches widespread across Ventura and Los Angeles counties with a bit less across San Luis Obispo/Santa Barbara counties.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warns as Hilary develops, there will be increasing southeast swell across the coastal waters from Sunday through Tuesday. High surf (4-7 feet if not a bit higher) is possible on SE and S facing beaches. Also, strong rip currents will be likely. Residents on Catalina Island could be most vulnerable, NWS states.
For “tropical trivia” the NWS reports the only time a tropical storm made landfall in California during the 20th century was on September 25th, 1939.
Southern California residents are being reminded to remember expected impacts could change very quickly. Keep monitoring official forecasts from your local NWS office.
Graphics by the National Weather Service & NOAA
Plan Ahead for Potential Hurricane Hilary Impacts
Sandbag Information and Storm Shelter for the Unhoused
By the City of Goleta
The City of Goleta is working with our emergency partners to monitor Hurricane Hilary (previously a tropical storm) and potential impacts as they relate to Goleta.
The National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center are forecasting the potential for Hurricane Hilary to impact central and southern California counties, including any area within Santa Barbara County. Moderate to heavy rain, strong winds, coastal storm surge and erosion, and hazardous sea conditions are possible. These conditions may start locally as early as Sunday afternoon (August 20). For the latest information from the County go to https://www.countyofsb.org/3985/24415/August-2023-Storms.
Here are some additional resources you can use for timely information:
- National Weather Service detailed weather forecasts: https://www.weather.gov/lox/
- National Hurricane Center website: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
The National Weather Service has also issued a FLOOD WATCH for the foothills above Santa Barbara, Montecito, Summerland, and Carpinteria and the Eastern Santa Ynez mountain range due to the potential for heavy rainfall from Hurricane Hilary. The FLOOD WATCH is in effect from Sunday (August 20) at 4pm through Monday (August 21) at 11pm.
Goleta Public Works is conducting advanced storm preparations and will be available to respond to any storm related issues.
Sandbag Information
There are two self-service sandbag stations the City has provided for residents to protect their homes from storm damage.
- Fire Station 11 (6901 Frey Way and Storke Road just south of Santa Felicia, across from the main post office)
- Fire Station 14 (320 Los Carneros Road next to the Stow House Museum lot)
Shelter for the Unhoused
It’s recommended that unsheltered persons living in the downstream areas should locate to higher ground. Beginning Sunday, emergency shelter bed availability will increase as needed in response to the storm (please note this may be updated if weather predictions shift). Locally, unsheltered persons can go to PATH at 816 Cacique Street in Santa Barbara. For availability, call 805-884-8481.
For questions, please contact City of Goleta Homelessness Services Coordinator Chuck Flacks at cflacks@cityofgoleta.org or 805-690-5125.
Stay Informed
Weather conditions can easily change. It’s important to stay informed and make sure you are registered for emergency alerts from Santa Barbara County at ReadySBC.org, and sign up for emergency information from the City at https://tinyurl.com/GoletaEmergency.
The track forecast has not changed much from yesterday, so it is quite likely that N Baja and the LA/San Diego mountains are going to get hosed. If the center arrives far enough west, we could end up with an all time high August rainfall – currently 1.55″ (during Aug 1983, as that all time El Nino fizzled). We already have 0.25″ from last Thursday (that was unique in itself), so it is possible. Right now the models say yes, but it can be a fluky thing to predict.
The last tropical storm landed around San Diego in 1939 and brought with it 50 mph winds and heavy flooding. The only known hurricane to make contact with the state was near San Diego in 1858, which brought up to 73 mph winds, The Washington Post reported
Let’s hope we get a big south swell like we did in Aug 1972….Mesa Lane was double-overhead…backside Rincon was probably triple…
It should be exciting weather this weekend. It would be nice if the storm made it all the way to Northern California to douse all the fires started by all the lightning strikes in the last 72hrs. Hopefully this storm doesn’t start a bunch of lightning fires down here.
Rainy first day of school, yikes. Stay off the roads if you don’t need to be out at dropoff/pickup times!
Don’t panic.
The forecast has been diminishing for our area since earlier this week. Eastern San Bernardino, San Diego counties and high/low deserts are tracking to get hit hard. Stay safe out there. Latest from weather west https://weatherwest.com/archives/29462
It looks like it is favoring the east, minimizing the impact here. The further east it goes the better it is for the LA basin. This could be very destructive down there.
Who in their right mind down votes Mesa Lane double overhead, backside Rincon triple overhead?
This is every SB storm silver lining
What happens with the downvotes is a few must just read who WROTE a comment but not the comment itself. You (I) could say “the sky is blue” and get downvoted x4. It’s absurd, very predictable, and at the same time pretty funny. Edhat should probably lose it. It makes people look dumb, and adds nothing.
BASIC – “It makes people look dumb, and adds nothing.” – Nah, the content of the comments do that pretty well on their own LOL
Also, curbing free speech? Why shouldn’t people be able to “voice” their opinions?
Yes, it will be good weather-watching to see what happens further south and east — in south Nevada and in Arizona; possible/probable flash floods and runoff. Yee haw, hope everyone stays safe.
Hurricane Hilary as it spins north up through Baja towards us:
https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/sector_band.php?sat=G18§or=tpw&band=GEOCOLOR&length=120&dim=1
Above is near-real time, 20 hour loop, multi-spectral day/night. So you can watch Hilary approach us and then switch to local radar (e.g. Wundermap) when it gets here (hopefully as broken-up remnants).
If you look east right now, that cloud slowly moving north is the western edge of the cloud band that the hurricane is pushing north.
If you then look at the link kindly provided by Eastbeach, you can get the satellite view of that same band of clouds.
Don’t panic, reports re exaggerated.