Edhat Staff
Source: County of Santa Barbara
HIGH-TECH RAIN MONITORING GAUGES HELP PROTECT SOUTH COUNTY
In the aftermath of the Thomas Fire and 1/9 Debris Flow, the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District installed six additional real-time rain gauges to provide enhanced rainfall monitoring for the impacted areas.
In cooperation with the National Parks Service, three new high-tech gauges were installed at weather monitoring stations on the Channel Islands, located at Anacapa, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands. These gauges electronically dispatch storm information to the National Weather Service and are vital in giving advance warning of the direction and intensity of storms approaching south Santa Barbara County.
“These rain gauges will improve the ability of the National Weather Service to have more accurate modelling and therefore better predictions,” says Rob Lewin, Director of the County’s Office of Emergency Management.
There are now 95 gauges countywide that transmit data to the NWS in real-time. The system enhancements are a collaborative effort between the County’s Flood Control District, the NWS, the National Parks Service and the California Geological Survey.
Information from the Santa Barbara County rain gauge network is available at: https://rain.cosbpw.net/home.
Those new gauges will only provide a few hours (at most) of advanced notice, not the 72 hours advanced notice that was promised.