Coming off of a couple of very active years with snow and rain keeping the California drought situation at bay, this current wet season has brought most of the precipitation to the Pacific Northwest and northern California. Finally, southern California is getting wet and snowy weather as a large storm expands across the West.

This time last year, a rare blizzard had just hit the Sierras, dropping snow for six days. In the 100 mph winds, the storm dropped as much as 10 feet of snow, helping set the snowpack and water table up for success for the following drier months. Although there have been numerous storms during this wet season in the West, not enough precipitation has fallen in the southern portions to keep drought conditions at bay.

Any rain is welcome, especially in southern California where the drought conditions have worsened over the last several months. The rain began on Wednesday in the mid-morning hours and the WeatherRadar shows the wet weather continuing on Thursday into Friday morning.

The mountains have winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings due to the heavy snow and winds gusting up to 55 mph, making travel treacherous.

Luckily, this large storm system is bringing heavy rain and snow across the Desert Southwest, Great Basin and Rockies where drought expansion has been noted as well. Keep a close eye on the WeatherRadar to stay on top of this storm.