Santa Barbara On Sundowner Alert

Santa Barbara County’s south coast will be experiencing hot and dry conditions Thursday afternoon and evening, with warm offshore winds called sundowners descending on the area and pushing temperatures into the 90s, according to the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management.

Sundowners typically precede Santa Ana winds and are especially dangerous during wildfire season, spreading the flames of the three-day Jesusita Fire in the Santa Barbara hills, which destroyed 80 homes and burned over 8,000 acres back in 2009.

The National Weather Service announced Thursday that the expected mix of hot temperatures and a high pressure “humid air mass” flowing in from the north will cause heat conditions to reach “critical levels.” Temperatures will reach their peak today, as areas of the Santa Barbara south coast reach the 90s while inland parts of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties face triple digits that are expected to lower throughout the week.

Temperatures are expected to cool tomorrow, resulting from an increase in “monsoonal moisture,” and there is a slight chance of thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in the valleys of Los Angeles County today and this weekend, according to the National Weather Service statement.