Rain prompted fire officials to lift ban on outdoor open burning in parts of state, but they warned of continued risk of wildfires
A series of storms has drenched California and even heavier rains are expected this weekend, promising a fleeting respite from the state's devastating drought.
Bay area mountains were expected to receive 152mm (six inches) of rain and the northern sierras two feet of snow, a welcome deluge after the driest winter on record.
A ridge of high pressure that has hovered over the west coast for months, blocking normal weather patterns, eased and allowed a weather system to break through, dumping rain across swathes of California on Thursday and Friday. Bigger weather systems were expected to follow in the next few days, bringing even heavier rain.
"Current satellite imagery depicts the early stages of what promises to be a significant precipitation event over the weekend," said the California Weather blog. "'Heavy' and 'rain' are not words that have been used in the same sentence for a long time here in California."
Areas with 20% normal rain levels since last July, the start of the season, could see that jump to 40% by Monday, said Jan Null, a meteorologist with the Golden Gate Weather Services. "It's a lot, but there is such a big deficit to make up. What we need - and I don't know if we'll get it - is half a dozen such weekends like the one we're going to get."