SANTA BARBARA WEATHER

Air quality in the county, unlike much of southern California, is generally good because of the prevailing winds off of the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes in late summer and early autumn there are days which exceed the federal standards for ozone; usually this occurs when there is a low inversion layer under a stagnant air mass, which traps pollutants underneath. In these cases a traveler into the mountains encounters a curious paradox: the temperature rises as altitude increases. On these days the visibility from the higher summits may be more than a hundred miles, while the population on the coastal plain experiences haze and smog.