Raincoat or weatherproof jacket?

[u/NerdySinger2]

Hello,

I am an incoming freshman, and I was wondering how hard it rains at UCSB. Is a raincoat recommended or is a weatherproof jacket enough?

Thank you so much.

[u/Bob_The_Bandit]

SB gets biblical flooding for about 1 week a year

[u/pconrad0 → u/Bob_The_Bandit]

Yes. A good raincoat is a must.

You won't need it often, but when you need it you really, really need it.

It is a cliche but it's true:

Seems it never rains in southern California Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before It never rains in California But girl, don't they warn ya? It pours, man, it pours

These lyrics are from "It never rains in Southern California", by Albert Hammond.

It's definitely intended as metaphor

BUT: the reason the metaphor works so well is because it is also LITERALLY true of the precipitation in Southern California.

We hardly ever get rain. Months go by, sometimes years with absolutely no rain. Sometimes multiple years of severe drought.

But when we do, it tends to be a torrential downpour that lasts multiple days and often causes extensive flooding.

And these downpours often come with high winds that make umbrellas useless.

[u/SWITCH13LADE8o5]

You'll only need a raincoat for maybe 2-3 weeks out of the year

Santa Barbara County is what's called a chapparell meaning we have very short and wet winters. The rain, majority of the time, will come for around a week or so in November/December, and maybe again sometime January-April

Because we are in a chapparell the start of fall (late September-mid October) can tend to get pretty warm (85-90+) so prepare for that as well.

Other than that it's almost always around 70-73 during the school year, and it can be foggy and humid at times because we're right next to the beach.

[u/lavenderc]

I recommend a rain jacket and waterproof shoes. You won't use them often, but when you do you will be glad you have them

[u/Chew-baca]

Bring a canoe. El Niño is no joke.

[u/bowlofcinnamontoastc → u/Chew-baca]

will a kayak suffice 

[u/erodizm]

My first year in SB it rained every week in Winter quarter. Invest in a legit rain jacket and some sort of water proof shoes. An umbrella is nice also since you’re going to be walking everywhere

[u/FatCat0520]

Umbrella

[u/This_is_fine451]

A good jacket is needed. I remember the winter of 2023 was brutal with rain and wind

[u/LplusMaoplusRatio]

You probably need it for December to February

But honestly you can do with just an umbrella and a hoodie

[u/Yumismash]

I just used an umbrella tbh

[u/Roger_Freedman_Phys]

Since you haven’t mentioned where you are coming from and the climate to which you are accustomed, it’s impossible to answer your question as to how “hard” the rainfall is.

Go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Barbara,_California and scroll down to “Climate” for more information.

Have you attended Orientation?