A wet rain year in Santa Barbara County is about to get wetter.
Another significant storm is set to move through the region this weekend, adding to a seasonal total to date that already is 131% of normal, according to the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department.
A weak weather system was expected to pass through the county overnight Wednesday into Thursday, but rainfall totals in most areas from that storm should be “well under a tenth of an inch,” Rose Schoenfeld, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Oxnard, told Noozhawk.
That precipitation will be just a prelude to much heavier rain beginning Friday and continuing into Sunday night.
Coastal and valley locations can expect 2 to 3 inches of rain through the period, Schoenfeld said, with mountain areas getting 3 to 5 inches.
The heaviest downpours are predicted to occur overnight Friday into Saturday, with 1 to 2 inches expected.
Rain will continue on Saturday, Schoenfeld said, turning to showers — with a chance of thunderstorms — Saturday night into Sunday.
“The majority of the impacts are looking to be kind of in the moderate category,” Schoenfeld said — “traffic incidents, mudslides, erosion and high creek flows.”
A Flood Watch likely will be issued Thursday or Friday, according to the NWS.
Blustery conditions are expected through Saturday, with gusts of 25 to 40 mph, she said, adding that some mountain locations could see gusts up to 60 mph.
Daytime high temperatures should be in the high 50s and low 60s, with overnight lows in the mid-40s.
Sunny skies are expected to return on Monday, along with a gradual warming trend, before another chance of rain returns the following weekend.
The wet weather is coming at an inopportune time for activities and observances associated with the Easter holiday.
An Easter egg hunt scheduled for Saturday morning at Elings Park in Santa Barbara has been postponed, and the organizers of several other hunts expect to decide Thursday or Friday whether their events will go on as planned.
A spokeswoman for Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara told Noozhawk they are monitoring the forecast and will decide in the next day or two whether to hold their big annual Easter morning service at the Courthouse Sunken Garden in Santa Barbara.
The Freedom Warming Centers throughout the county will be open Friday and Saturday nights for unhoused people. The hours are 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The centers are at the Atkinson Center, 1000 N. Railroad Ave. in Santa Maria; Bethany Lutheran Church, 135 South E St. in Lompoc; the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, 1535 Santa Barbara St.; and the Carpinteria Veterans Hall, 941 Walnut Ave.
The warming centers hotline is 805.324.2372.
Click here for the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.
Click here for real-time rainfall totals from throughout the county.