Debris Flow — Santa Barbara, California

2024-03-30 · near Goleta, Santa Barbara, California

Event narrative

California Highway Patrol reported a large boulder across Highway 154 near Painted Cave Road.

Wider weather episode

The most powerful storm of March brought significant rain, mountain snow, strong thunderstorms and flash flooding to Southwestern California. Rainfall totals ranged from 1.50 to 4.00 inches across coastal and valley areas and up to 7 inches across the mountain slopes. At higher elevations, over 1 foot of snowfall was reported across the Ventura and Los Angeles county mountains. Strong thunderstorms generated gusty outflow winds and heavy rain which caused numerous reports of flash flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.4914, -119.7948)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1207139. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.