Mission Santa Barbara
I was looking around the country trying to figure out why ORD Chicago O’Hare seemed to not have an ASOS in Wunderground while other places less “likely” did, and stumbled on Santa Barbara. Talk about your alpha and omega…
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=ksba&wuSelect=WEATHER
This posting is short on analysis, it’s mostly just preserving this page of data as I saw it. The Santa Barbara ASOS is clearly at one of the very hottest places around the area. I’m not familiar enough with the area to know where these are relative to each other, but Santa Barbara is not a very big place. It looks to me like “cold near the beach – warm over brown dirt” but that’s just speculation. What’s not speculation is that the ASOS is unrepresentative of the average Santa Barbara temperature.
Here is the entire list of nearby stations that Wunderground puts at the bottom of the page for Santa Barbara. I’ve bolded the ASOS temp at 63 F. Notice that pretty much everything else is in the 57 F – 61 F range with a couple at 62 F and only one other site near the 63 F of the ASOS. (Though Los Flores Canyon in Goleta is 64 F)
Station Location Temp. Dew Point Humidity Wind Pressure Precipitation Elevation Updated Type
MesoWest LFCODOR , Goleta, CA 62 °F / 16.7 °C – – SE at 4 mph / 6.4 km/h / 1.8 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 125 ft 1 hr 36 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
ASOS_HFM SANTA BARBARA, CA, Santa Barbara, CA 63 °F / 17.2 °C 61 °F / 16 °C 94% North at 0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.96 in / 1014.4 hPa 0.01 in / 0 mm / hr 9 ft 15 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
APRSWXNET Goleta CA , Goleta, CA 60 °F / 15.6 °C 57 °F / 14 °C 91% North at –
29.97 in / 1014.8 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 141 ft 33 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
Northwest Goleta, Goleta, CA 60.4 °F / 15.8 °C 58 °F / 14 °C 92% North at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.94 in / 1013.8 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 143 ft 35 sec ago Normal
MesoWest UCSB W Campus , Santa Barbara, CA – – – SSE at 6 mph / 9.7 km/h / 2.7 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 29 ft 1 hr 36 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
Brandon/Evergreen, Goleta, CA 59.7 °F / 15.4 °C 59 °F / 15 °C 97% WNW at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.89 in / 1012.1 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 143 ft 2 hr 12 min 51 sec ago Normal
MesoWest ELLWOODODOR , Goleta, CA 61 °F / 16.1 °C – – SE at 3 mph / 4.8 km/h / 1.3 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 82 ft 1 hr 36 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
Eastern Goleta Valley, Santa Barbara, CA 60.5 °F / 15.8 °C 59 °F / 15 °C 95% WSW at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.94 in / 1013.8 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 69 ft 1 min 50 sec ago Normal Website
Park Highlands, Santa Barbara, CA 60.4 °F / 15.8 °C 60 °F / 16 °C 97% WNW at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.95 in / 1014.1 hPa – / hr 265 ft 4 min 44 sec ago Normal
Santa Barbara, CA 58.3 °F / 14 °C 57 °F / 14 °C 97% South at 0.0 mph / 0 km/h
29.95 in / 1014.1 hPa 0.02 in / 1 mm / hr 840 ft 1 sec ago Rapid Fire
Foothill Open Space, Santa Barbara, CA 60.3 °F / 15 °C 60 °F / 16 °C 100% NW at 1.0 mph / 1.6 km/h / 0.4 m/s
29.94 in / 1013.8 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 210 ft 31 sec ago Normal
San Marcos Pass, Santa Barbara, CA 54.0 °F / 12.2 °C – – NW at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 2100 ft 5 min 29 sec ago Normal
Near Shadow Hills, Santa Barbara, CA 63.9 °F / 17.7 °C 64 °F / 18 °C 97% NW at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.44 in / 996.8 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 402 ft 4 min 56 sec ago Normal
San Marcos Pass, Santa Barbara, CA 57.5 °F / 14.2 °C 33 °F / 0 °C 39% SE at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.88 in / 1011.7 hPa 0.11 in / 3 mm / hr 2100 ft 1 min 54 sec ago Normal
Bel Air Knolls, Santa Barbara, CA 62.2 °F / 16.8 °C 58 °F / 15 °C 87% WNW at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.88 in / 1011.7 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 70 ft 52 sec ago Normal
San Roque, Santa Barbara, CA 60.6 °F / 15.9 °C 58 °F / 14 °C 90% NNW at 0.0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.86 in / 1011.1 hPa 0.04 in / 1 mm / hr 260 ft 2 sec ago Rapid Fire
Sam arkand San Roque Upper SB Weather, Santa Barbara, CA 60.4 °F / 15.8 °C 59 °F / 15 °C 96% NW at 1.7 mph / 2.7 km/h / 0.8 m/s
29.88 in / 1011.7 hPa 0.04 in / 1 mm / hr 100 ft 41 sec ago Rapid Fire Website
Westside / Mesa, Santa Barbara, CA 62.4 °F / 16 °C 61 °F / 16 °C 96% North at 0.7 mph / 1 km/h
29.91 in / 1012.8 hPa 0.02 in / 1 mm / hr 120 ft 47 sec ago Rapid Fire Website
RAWS LOS PRIETOS CA, Santa Barbara, CA 59 °F / 15.0 °C 58 °F / 14 °C 96% ENE at 0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 1020 ft 1 hr 21 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
MesoWest PARADISE RD , Santa Barbara, CA 58 °F / 14.4 °C – – ESE at 3 mph / 4.8 km/h / 1.3 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 1794 ft 1 hr 36 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
Near Mission – TC, Santa Barbara, CA 61.7 °F / 16.5 °C 59 °F / 15 °C 92% NW at 0.0 mph / 0 km/h
29.97 in / 1014.8 hPa 0.04 in / 1 mm / hr 32 ft 2 sec ago Rapid Fire
APRSWXNET Santa Barbra CA U, Santa Barbara, CA 59 °F / 15.0 °C 59 °F / 15 °C 100% North at 0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.96 in / 1014.4 hPa 61.40 in / 1560 mm / hr 469 ft 31 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
MesoWest La Cumbre Peak , Santa Barbara, CA 55 °F / 12.8 °C 48 °F / 9 °C 77% North at –
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 3819 ft 1 hr 2 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
APRSWXNET La Cumbre Peak CA U, Santa Barbara, CA 52 °F / 11.1 °C 51 °F / 11 °C 95% NE at 12 mph / 19.3 km/h / 5.4 m/s
29.90 in / 1012.4 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 3950 ft 35 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
MesoWest Santa Barbara-700 Canon Perdido, Santa Barbara, CA 59 °F / 15.0 °C – – WNW at 0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
29.87 in / 1011.4 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 65 ft 2 hr 35 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
Upper Riviera – Camino Alto, Santa Barbara, CA 59.0 °F / 15.0 °C 58 °F / 15 °C 98% WNW at 1.0 mph / 1 km/h
29.88 in / 1011.7 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 747 ft 2 sec ago Rapid Fire Website
MARITIME , Santa Barbara, CA – – – North at –
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 0 ft 1 hr 41 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
MesoWest EL CAPITAN BCH , Goleta, CA 61 °F / 16.1 °C – – ESE at 6 mph / 9.7 km/h / 2.7 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 127 ft 1 hr 36 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
RAWS SBC PORTABLE 2 CA, Goleta, CA 57 °F / 13.9 °C – – NW at 1 mph / 1.6 km/h / 0.4 m/s
– 0.05 in / 1 mm / hr 806 ft 1 hr 41 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
MesoWest LAS FLORES CANYON , Goleta, CA 64 °F / 17.8 °C – – ESE at 6 mph / 9.7 km/h / 2.7 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 620 ft 1 hr 36 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
RAWS MONTECITO CA, Santa Barbara, CA 57 °F / 13.9 °C 56 °F / 13 °C 95% ESE at 1 mph / 1.6 km/h / 0.4 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 1500 ft 1 hr 21 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
RAWS LPF02 PORTABLE CA, Santa Barbara, CA 59 °F / 15.0 °C 59 °F / 15 °C 100% ENE at 0 mph / 0.0 km/h / 0.0 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 372 ft 47 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
Refugio Canyon, Goleta, CA 60.2 °F / 15.7 °C 55 °F / 13 °C 82% NNE at 19.0 mph / 30.6 km/h / 8.5 m/s
29.87 in / 1011.4 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 1540 ft 2 hr 51 min 18 sec ago Normal
CA_Hydro Tajiguas Landfill , Goleta, CA 59 °F / 15.0 °C 56 °F / 13 °C 89% North at –
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 350 ft 47 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
MARITIME , Santa Barbara, CA 61 °F / 16.1 °C – – SW at 9 mph / 14.5 km/h / 4.0 m/s
29.90 in / 1012.4 hPa 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 0 ft 1 hr 45 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
Santa Ynez, CA 62.4 °F / 16.9 °C 59 °F / 15 °C 88% SE at 9.0 mph / 14.5 km/h / 4.0 m/s
29.93 in / 1013.4 hPa – / hr 615 ft 12 min 55 sec ago Normal
MesoWest SANTA YNEZ , Santa Ynez, CA 56 °F / 13.3 °C – – SW at 2 mph / 3.2 km/h / 0.9 m/s
– 0.00 in / 0 mm / hr 688 ft 1 hr 36 min 59 sec ago MADIS Website
Santa Barabara Airport Map
I know I’d rather have an old Stevenson Screen with a Liquid In Glass thermometer being read by the monks at the mission… At least you would know it was a consistent location and honestly read.
Here is a picture of the whole place, looking down on it from the mountains nearby.
Santa Barbara from overlooking mountains
The wiki includes this text:
Santa Barbara is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara’s climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city is sometimes referred to as the “American Riviera.”[1] As of the census of 2000, the city had a population of 92,325 while the contiguous urban area, which includes the cities of Goleta and Carpinteria, along with the unincorporated regions of Isla Vista, Montecito, Mission Canyon, Hope Ranch, Summerland, and others, had an approximate population of 220,000.
which indicates Golita is part of the urban continuous area in that picture, so still ought to be about the same temperatures.
Musings from the Chiefio 
The airport is in Goleta between US 101 and the Pacific Ocean. The west edge of the airport property is just across the road from the water. (Google Maps) You didn’t show its position in your text.
It should be as cool as or cooler than Santa Barbara. That somewhat depends on the winds, if they come down from the mountains compressive heating can be quite warm. Typically the wind is off the oceans in the midday periods which keeps things really nice during the days.
Just to let you know, I am one of your regular readers. Keep it up.
This map from Monday morning 18 Oct 2010 suggests the San Diego ASOS is still running 3-4 deg F warmer than surrounding sites:
KSAN is the San Diego ASOS site.
@John Andrews: Thanks! Glad you like what you find here.
There’s only so much time I can put into any given posting, so there are times where “little mysteries” are left for others to search out. Things like why the Santa Barbara Airport came up as “Golita” ( and what a Golita might be ;-)
I’ve driven by there a few dozen times (and likely will be doing so again in a week… visiting family ‘down south’) but didn’t remember the Airport… then again, I’m usually looking at the hills… Very Pretty. I’d love to live there.
@Mark Albright: Nice Catch! It will bear watching. Especially as San Diego is about as consistent a temperature regime as you can find… darned near perfect year round and very little variation most of the time.