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With California’s two largest reservoirs hitting historically average levels following a weekend of heavy storms, the state’s chief water regulator is cautiously optimistic that the drought may finally be relaxing its grip. If the wet weather continues, she said, the urban conservation mandates that turned lawns brown and have Californians taking shorter showers may be eased in the weeks ahead.

“In May, we’ll be either lifting it or changing it significantly,” Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, said Monday. “The more precipitation we get, the more snowpack we have, the better it is.”

Federal forecasters have downgraded their projections for the Colorado River after an unusually hot, dry February that has increased the likelihood of a first-ever shortage declaration at Lake Mead.

Forecasters are now predicting the arrival of shortage conditions at the nation’s largest man-made reservoir in January 2018. Just a month ago, forecasters expected Lake Mead to narrowly avoid the shortage line for at least the next two years.

Flying over the boundary of Yosemite National Park, the view from 10,500 feet spanned east across 30 miles of snow, ice and rock to the Sierra Crest. The west-facing flank was side-loaded with massive slabs of snow up as far as you could see. Frozen lakes looked like giant skating rinks.

As the plane banked to the right, we caught our first glimpse of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. Looking toward Yosemite Valley, the top edge of Half Dome was visible, its colossal escarpment jutting into the sky.

Ripping a page out of the playbook the Los Angeles Water & Power Department used to desecrate the Owens Valley to try and quench its insatiable thirst for water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is buying up land in San Joaquin County.

The deal for five Delta islands — Webb Tract, Bacon Island, Bouldin, part of Chipps Island and most of Holland Tract — could line the pockets of Swiss mega-corporation Zurich Insurance Group with as much as $240 million.

The first of a pair of storms pounded Northern California on Thursday, bringing heavy bands of rain to the North Bay, causing minor flooding and mudslides, and raising the specter that the flood-prone Russian River might spill its banks.

The National Weather Service’s hazardous outlook remained in place for the most of the Bay Area as on-and-off downpours were forecast to continue Friday. Parts of Sonoma and Napa counties were expecting as much 4 inches of rain by Friday evening, igniting fear that a region thirsty for rain might get too much too fast.