Oh, absolutely. So much here on my property was really, really struggling by the end of summer with water bills getting higher and higher and me trying to water less. Everything is fresh and lush and healthy now, soil has been cleansed, everything is thriving and happy. I heard it mentioned on the weather report that our El Nino rains would continue through mid-spring and I'm hoping that means a much later start to my 'watering' season. I have a large sweep of echium fastuosums that were really in bad shape and I figured that they were nearing the end of their 5-6 year lifespan...now they are absolutely beautiful once again.

Nope, sorry the drought is not broken. It can take up to 3 years of excessive amounts to get relief from a drought. Just cuz you got normal doesn't mean the reserviors are more than full to last. The wish for 20 inches won't last long enough.

"The Colorado River, the other major source of imported supplies for Metropolitan, has experienced drought conditions for eight of the last nine years." for more info on that statement follow the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: water alert

Yesterday/this morning was incredible, just non-stop heavy rain, more even than any day of the Jan. storms. I'm still left wondering about runoff from these high-intensity storms vs the recharge rate of the groundwater & aquifers and whether a few superstorms can equal months of steady rain for non-irrigated lands.

Sure did me right though, as I had just weeded and transplanted some seedlings, so this watered them right in.

Not here in the south SF bay area-but in the north bay some of Marin county have already DOUBLED last years rain total. And they really need it since that exclusive area depends on five dinky resevoirs for ALL their water-no Sac river,Yosemite or Sierra's...just five giant ponds.

I think my neighbor's trees may live after this rainfall. They have not had a drink since 2005, and they were beginning to look a little peaked.

Lake Oroville is still way down. They kept pumping out water to send to So Cal until it was almost just a mud puddle. The mountains in the north still need a lot more snow to make up for the dry years.