California's wet winter continued Saturday as rain fell in the South, grounding flights in and out of Santa Barbara airport and triggering major road closures along the coast.
The wet weather is expected to continue into Tuesday, with the heaviest precipitation expected to taper off around midday Monday, according to the National Weather Service. However, even light rain can have a huge impact when it comes on the heels of other strong winter storms, said Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“There's a lot of room for rain to fall, so it could still be a little dangerous out there,” he said.
The recent storm system was most severe in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, but is expected to weaken as it moves into Los Angeles County. The Santa Barbara Airport canceled all flights in and out of the airport on Saturday around noon after several runways were flooded. Officials at the small regional airport located about seven miles from downtown Santa Barbara did not know when it would reopen and said they would reassess the situation once the rains stopped.
“I urge everyone to check with their airlines about the status of their flights before coming to the airport,” a spokesperson said.
Wet weather, combined with an earlier storm over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, was also responsible for the closure of all lanes on a 27-mile stretch of Highway 101 stretching from the interchange of SR1 and Highway 1 to Winchester Road in Goleta due to heavy flooding. And, on Friday, Caltrans closed the 3.6-mile stretch of Topanga Canyon Boulevard known for experiencing landslides between Pacific Coast Highway and Grand View Drive. Reopening roads was dependent on improving weather and road conditions, Caltrans said.
The rain system is expected to weaken as it moves south into Los Angeles County, but there is a 20% chance that recently burned areas, including scars from the Palisades, Eaton and Bridge fires, could experience mudslides. The National Weather Service also issued a flood warning Saturday for the Santa Clarita Valley and mountains in northwest Los Angeles County. The service warns that minor flooding is possible in low-lying and poorly drained areas, as well as small mudslides and debris flows, especially near steep terrain and recent burn scars.
Farther north in the Bay Area, a powerful combination of abnormally high king tides, large storm surges in the eastern Pacific, and region-wide rainfall have caused coastal flooding. Flooding occurred primarily around the Embarcadero in San Francisco and in parts of Marin County. There have also been reports of High Surf near Half Moon Bay in San Francisco and some flooding in the Elk Horn Slew area in the northern part of Monterey County on Highway 1.
High tides could cause another round of coastal flooding on Sunday, but on Monday the region should be free of further coastal flooding, said Dial Hoang, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey.
Los Angeles County has already seen higher than normal precipitation this rainy season, with particularly strong storms hitting the region during the Christmas and New Year holidays. The last days of rain for 2025 helped push California out out of drought conditionsaccording to the US Drought Monitor. And more rain may be on the way. The wettest months of the year are traditionally January and February.
