|Santa Barbara > Community > Weather > June Gloom|
Each summer in Santa Barbara we have a phenomenon the locals call "June Gloom" or sometimes "May Gray." It is both a blessing and a curse. It's a little quirk of nature that keeps our temperatures so wonderful, in spite of being in Southern California.
As locals know and most visitors figure out fast - the Pacific Ocean is really, really cold. If you drive over the Santa Ynez Mountains, you will also discover that inland is very, very warm.
When those warm desert winds hit the cold ocean waters, it generates a billowing fog that sweeps inland. The temperatures are kept cooler here in large part because of this fog.
The upshot is that throughout late May and June (until the ocean warms up enough for this not to happen) each morning dawns dank and foggy. Fortunately, it usually clears by noon. This gives us the temperature break that we need and the sunny summer afternoons we expect.
So hang in there - the fog will lift. And when it does we can smile at the poor souls inland suffering with 100º+ temperatures to our 80º or so. It's a small price to pay for heaven!