For the first time since 1989, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Santa Barbara County and snow fell at elevation levels as low as 1,500 feet.
Robbie Munroe, a Los Angeles National Weather Service meteorologist, told the Sun that the system traveled from the Gulf of Alaska and Western Canada, bringing an “unusually cold” source of air into the Santa Barbara County region in late February.
“Because it had a long duration over water, it was able to incorporate quite a bit of moisture from the ocean; there was very impressive amounts of moisture available given how cold the storm was,” Munroe said. “We do have another round of an unusually cold system with low snow levels, and we could see snow again on some of those higher foothills and mountains in the Santa Ynez range and the Santa Barbara interior range.”
Munroe predicted more snow starting Feb. 28 at elevations around 4,000 feet or higher, and then as temperatures dropped it could cause snow as low as 1,500 feet. The valleys in Santa Barbara County weren’t expected to see snow on the ground but were expecting a quarter to three-quarters of an inch of rain and “gusty winds.”
The recent cold air and high amounts of moisture caused snow to fall at lower levels than normal, fellow National Weather Service meteorologist Kristen Stewart said.
“We often see snow above 5,000 feet; anything lower than that is usually quite rare. We have a lot of attention here [from a] national perspective,” Stewart said. “Since it’s been such a wet winter, it’s exciting to see something different than we’ve seen the past several years.”
Although snow is something unique for many local communities, Stewart advised people to admire it from a distance until the storm passes and roadways are up and running again.
“A lot of these roads or mountains are really treacherous to travel through; a lot of people could get stuck [or] trapped. It’s good to stay at home and watch from afar,” she said.
After the Weather Service issued a blizzard warning that took effect on Feb. 24, Caltrans crews started 24-hour coverage to respond to incidents along the roadways, Public Information Officer Alexa Bertola said. Highways 154 and 166 closed during the snowfall, Highway 1 in Lompoc experienced a washout, and Interstate 5’s Grapevine closed—causing traffic on Highway 101 to increase.
During the 154 closure, Caltrans deployed four plows to clear the snow and put sand on the roads to increase tire traction.
“Besides our maintenance crews on 24-hour coverage, ready to respond, we have them patrolling throughout the day and working to reopen the highways after rockslides, downed trees, and clear drainage systems if there is flooding,” Bertola said. “We always have people out on the roadways to ensure the safety of drivers.”
As of Feb. 28, 154 was reopen, 166 had closures in the Kern County area, and there was controlled one-way traffic at various locations between Las Cruces and Jamala Road on Highway 1 due to the washouts, according to Caltrans road information.
At the county level, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) sent out emails, social media messages, and wireless alerts regarding the weather, Public Information Officer Jackie Ruiz said. The office worked to make sure its alerts were provided in English and Spanish and were easily accessible—with Ruiz noting that it was the first time the office had to translate “blizzard” in Spanish.
“We know with more extreme weather, we will have to continue to adjust and address issues we don’t commonly deal with,” Ruiz said.
It was also the first time the county relied on its plan to provide warming centers for the general population. Usually, she said, warming centers are for those experiencing homelessness.
“We saw some of our residents experience power outages,” Ruiz said. “Whenever there’s the possibility for power outages and low temperature thresholds, a warming center for the general population is something we have to consider.”
Many people wanted to compare the recent set of storms to the atmospheric rivers from January, but the cold fronts were far less destructive, Ruiz said, noting that there are still concerns for any follow-up damage this storm had on those still trying to recover from January.
“Thankfully, some of the impacts we had are most common, like road closures, where flooding tends to happen. As far as we heard from our perch, there weren’t too many people putting themselves in dangerous situations,” she said. “We are definitely still working with communities to do an assessment post storm [where] we tend to hear from communities who were impacted.”
This article appears in Mar 2-9, 2023.