A windy storm sweeping down the West Coast knocked down trees, ripped through freeway and street signs, delayed hundreds of flights and knocked out power for thousands of people in California and Nevada.
Up to 10 inches of rain is expected this weekend in parts of the drought-stricken region, but the rainfall won’t make a significant dent in California’s historic drought.
Still, the storm is a welcome change after six dry weeks in the Bay Area. For the first time in recorded history, there was no measurable rainfall in downtown San Francisco in January, when winter rains usually come.
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Water resources managers said heavy rain and cooler temperatures in the next three months would be required for the snowpack to build and give Californians hope for beginning to recover from the drought this year.
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Associated Press writers Doug Esser in Seattle and Scott Sonner in Reno contributed to this report.
