Santa Barbara has warmed about 2.5°F between 1971 and 2020.
About 0.5°F per decade, measured from Santa Barbara's official daily weather records, 1971–2020. Individual years still bounce around — some recent ones came in cool — but the long-term line has clearly risen.
Is that a lot? Santa Barbara's warming is broadly in line with other cities in United States — neither unusually fast nor unusually slow.
What has actually changed
Each card compares the 1970s (the first ten years of the
record) with recent years (the last ten) — the same span
the headline and the chart use.
Freezing nights
1 fewer night
1970s
1 / yr
→
Recent
0 / yr
Milder winters — fewer frosts
Average temperature
+1.6°F
1970s
61.4°F
→
Recent
62.9°F
A steady upward drift
Hot days above 90°F
3 more days
1970s
4 / yr
→
Recent
7 / yr
More days of serious heat
Rainy days
8 more days
1970s
28 / yr
→
Recent
36 / yr
Wetter on average
Santa Barbara's temperature, year by year
Average temperature for each year from 1971 to 2020.
a warmer-than-average year a cooler-than-average year
Each bar is one year. Most recent years sit above the older ones.
Some recent years still came in cool — warming is a slope,
not a straight climb.
When in the year the change shows up
How much warmer each month is now than in the 1970s.
Useful if you garden or care about a particular season —
otherwise the headline above already has the answer.
May has warmed the most — about 1.7°F. The warming runs across the whole year, not just one season.
Methodology & sources
Temperature — 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.