A Pacific storm spread needed rain to much of California on Friday, causing traffic snarls but no immediate trouble for communities near slopes left barren by wildfires. Northern and central sections of the state felt the brunt of the storm’s impacts but the threat of heavy rain rapidly diminished as it spread into Los Angeles and flash flood watches in local mountains were canceled. Rainfall rates were highly variable from the coast to the Sierra Nevada, but all of it was needed in a state that has seen only modest improvement in its drought situation.

There’s a lot of talk right now in California about water data. Do we have enough of it? Are we doing the right things with the information that we do have? And how are we sharing and using that data? Our first edition of “Water Talks,” a new, monthly conversation around hot topics in California water, centered on those crucial questions.

A surprisingly wet October continues to bring gentle rains to the Sacramento region, providing some relief to watersheds parched by five years of drought.

But as scattered showers hit the region Thursday, forecasters and hydrologists said the promising start to the rainy season, while helpful, doesn’t necessarily mean the drought will end this winter.

This October is the 12th wettest in Sacramento in the 139 years tracked by the National Weather Service. As much as 2 more inches of rain might fall before the month is over.