Year in Photos: Mother Nature

Photo

Mother Nature sure didn’t cut Santa Barbara any slack this year. She delivered fresh fires and new threats of debris flows, most recently with the Cave Fire, which ignited in the Painted Cave area a few days before Thanksgiving. Racing through brush that hadn’t burned in decades, the fire gave responders quite the fight but was ultimately put down with no significant losses.

Photo: Paul Wellman

Firefighters held a line in the San Marcos Foothill Preserves, while dozers cut a break off East Camino Cielo.

Photo: Paul Wellman

During a bout of high wind and heat, Southern California Edison crews preemptively shut off power to the Painted Cave area, but it wasn’t enough to stop the fire from crossing Highway 154

Photo: Paul Wellman

With no rest for the weary, county firefighters had earlier in the fall knocked down a fast-moving grass fire, called the McMurray Fire, along State Route 1 at the 101 interchange. No damage or injuries were reported.

Photo: Paul Wellman

Photo By Indy Staff
Thu Dec 26, 2019 | 12:01am

Storms visited Santa Barbara in 2019, including a spectacular lightning show that lit up the Mission.
A more celestial event included the Super Blue Blood Moon of January.
Heavy rains caused flooding that closed Highway 101, drowned Chapala and Los Olivos streets, knocked down trees, and made the difficult life of being homeless more troubling.
Heavy rains caused flooding that closed Highway 101, drowned Chapala and Los Olivos streets, knocked down trees, and made the difficult life of being homeless more troubling.
Heavy rains caused flooding that closed Highway 101, drowned Chapala and Los Olivos streets, knocked down trees, and made the difficult life of being homeless more troubling.
Jascha Kostruba (center) and Liam Fealy take advantage of the rains by skim boarding in Cabrillo Ball Park