LOS ANGELES (AP) — California has vital snow in the Sierra Nevada and positive rainfall totals in many areas after a stormy autumn weekend up and down the state, which is hoping to avoid a sixth consecutive year of drought conditions.
In the Sierra, where the annual snowpack functions as a reservoir of much of the state’s water supply, storms over Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks deposited 19 inches of snow at Lodgepole and 16 inches at Grant Grove.
Southern California mountains also saw snow.
When the 2016 water year ended on Sept. 30, the state Department of Water Resources characterized it as a “snow drought,” with most of California’s meager precipitation falling as rain.
Where it didn’t snow, the weekend’s storms brought widespread rain and hopes for a turnaround in the drought.