According to today's Weather and Crop Bulletin report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), California’s recovery from a 3-year drought neared completion, as additional Pacific storminess battered the state with heavy rain, mountain snow, and high winds.
The San Joaquin Valley’s formerly dry Tulare Lake began to take on water, inundating low-lying communities and agricultural land. Elsewhere in California, water managers continued to gird for the spring and summer melt season, with the average water equivalency of the Sierra Nevada snowpack rising above 58 inches (more than 225 percent of normal), according to the California Department of Water Resources.
Significant precipitation extended to other areas, including the Pacific Northwest and parts of the Southwest. However, mostly dry weather persisted on the drought-stricken southern High Plains, where rangeland, pastures, and winter grains continued to suffer from inadequate moisture reserves.
Farther east, however, heavy showers erupted from the southeastern Plains into the mid-South and lower Midwest, leading to river rises and lowland flooding.