How extreme does Santa Barbara's weather get?

The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest days Santa Barbara has recorded — the outer limits of what its weather can do, and how far they sit beyond a normal day.

Based on 50+ years of daily weather observations (1971–present), from the Santa Barbara Muni Ap station 13 km away. Updated through May 2026 — an all-time extreme only changes when a more extreme day actually occurs, so some dates are old. That is normal, not stale data.

The four kinds of extreme

The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest single days Santa Barbara has recorded — each shown against what a normal day that time of year looks like.

🔥 Hottest day

109°F Jul 2, 1985

That is about 36°F hotter than a normal July afternoon in Santa Barbara (typical high near 73°F).

The three most extreme on record

1 109°F Jul 2, 1985

2 109°F Jun 27, 1990

3 106°F Jul 19, 1992

❄️ Coldest night

20°F Dec 22, 1990

About 20°F colder than a normal December night in Santa Barbara (typical low near 40°F).

The three most extreme on record

1 20°F Dec 22, 1990

2 21°F Dec 23, 1990

3 22°F Dec 24, 1990

🌧️ Most rain in one day

5.23 in Mar 20, 2011

More rain in a single day than Santa Barbara usually gets in the whole month of March (typical March total about 3.1 in).

The three most extreme on record

1 5.23 in Mar 20, 2011

2 4.74 in Mar 15, 2003

3 4.52 in Dec 24, 2025

How hot and cold it gets, month by month

The shaded band is the normal range of daily temperatures for each month. The dots show the most extreme it has ever been — so you can see how far beyond a normal day the records really sit.

normal range of daily temperatureshottest ever recordedcoldest ever recorded

Santa Barbara's record heat sits well above even a hot day for the season — July's 109°F is about 36°F beyond a normal hot afternoon. Its record cold is just as far below a normal winter night — the dots mark how rare each extreme really is.

In plain terms

In a normal year, Santa Barbara's warmest days reach the mid-70s°F and its coldest nights drop to the low 40s°F. But across the record it has gone as high as 109°F and as low as 20°F. A single day has delivered over 5 inches of rain. Those are the outer edges worth knowing if you are moving here, planning a trip, or thinking about a house.

Methodology & sources

Temperature & precipitation — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals, measured at Santa Barbara (NOAA GHCN station USC00047902), about 1 km from the city centre.

How we build these numbers →

← Santa Barbara city detail