Locals and tourists alike take to the Santa Barbara waterfront during heatwave
Beachgoers try to beat the heat on Friday afternoon at East Beach, some of them finding shade under awnings.
The South Coast heat wave continues.
After a picturesque Friday afternoon along Santa Barbara’s waterfront saw dozens flock to the beach, the hot conditions will continue today.
Today’s high in the city is 94 degrees, which follows a day in the upper 80s on Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
In efforts to cope with the heat, plenty of people took advantage of the hot weather to spend the afternoon at East Beach. Though it’s expected to be even hotter today, several individuals who spoke to the News-Press on Friday said they’ll likely be at the beach again today rather than indoors by an air conditioner.
Some at East Beach were out-of-towners who came to Santa Barbara for the weekend to get away from even more intense heat. Santa Clarita resident Brevin White said his hometown was experiencing temperatures in the triple digits, so coming to Santa Barbara was something of an escape.
“We don’t get a breeze back home in Santa Clarita. With the heatwave we’re just trying to stay cool and we can do that down here in Santa Barbara by the beach,” he said
Mariposa County resident Victoria Imprie also said she intended on coming back to East Beach over the weekend with her two daughters.
“We try and be at the beach as much as we can, the beach or the mountains are the two places we want to be when it’s hot,” she said.
Since she owns a zipline park in Mariposa County, Ms. Imprie said her family is very outdoorsy and has spent too much time indoors as of late. Thus, they won’t be sitting inside during the heatwave.
“To be honest, we’ve done too much sitting around… We’re usually outdoors and we like to be able to get out in the fresh air, and this is the time of year to be at the ocean,” she said.
Because her kids had been at East Beach every day of last week for the Santa Barbara Junior Lifeguards summer program, Santa Barbara resident Leslie Roth didn’t think she and her family would return to East Beach during the weekend. However, the hot weather means they will surely take a trip to some other beach. Whichever one they choose to go to, it will be one that doesn’t have too many people visiting.
“We’re also trying to spread out a little bit, so we don’t want to come to really crowded beaches,” she said.
Santa Barbara resident and San Marcos High School junior Emma Whitmer expects to do a little of both. On Friday, she was at East Beach to give a volleyball lesson, but over the weekend she hopes to go back and take a dip in the ocean. That said, she does have homework and other school-related business to take care of before she begins her junior year of high school next week.
Unlike a vast majority of the people who spoke to the News-Press on Friday, Santa Barbara resident Jennifer Stroh plans “to be indoors all day Saturday and all day Sunday, studying in the dark.” She said she’ll be studying The Dharma, the teachings of The Buddha, in an online weekend course through the Bodhi Path Buddhist Center.
Today’s high temperature is expected to be 97 degrees. The forecast for Sunday calls for a high of 92, according to the National Weather Service.
The heat will persist into early next week, with a high of 88 on Monday and a high of 95 on Tuesday, according to the Weather Service.
email: jgrega@newspress.com
