You are now in California and the U.S. category.

The outgoing Obama administration on Wednesday tried to nudge forward Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to build two giant north-south water tunnels for California. In an executive order, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell directed federal wildlife officials on Wednesday to release by Jan. 17 a preliminary environmental opinion that directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to assist as the $15.7 billion project seeks state and federal permits and other approvals. Brown welcomed Jewell’s move, saying in a statement “it commits the federal government to a timely review” of the proposed tunnels.

On Tuesday, state water officials trudged into the Sierra Nevada for the first snowpack survey of 2017. Snowpack levels are crucial indicators of whether California will have enough water after the winter, as the melting snow flows into the state’s reservoirs. The reading at Phillips Station, near Lake Tahoe, however, is a largely ceremonial exercise, attracting attention in part for its visual interest. (See photos below.) After dipping poles into the snow, surveyors said the snowpack there was at roughly half the historical average.

The multi-day siege of flooding rain and Sierra snow has begun in California, which may eventually prove to be too much of a good thing for residents still thirsting for relief from a five-year drought. Several landslides were reported in parts of northern California Tuesday night and early Wednesday, particularly in Santa Cruz County. Up to 2 feet of water was reported near downtown Yountville, and two right lanes of the 101 freeway in downtown San Francisco were flooded by a couple feet of water.

With the Bay Area experiencing a relatively wet and lush winter, it’s easy to forget that nearly half of California is still suffering from extreme and exceptional drought levels. That’s why the State Water Resources Control Board is moving forward on a revolutionary new plan to develop and adopt measures to convert recycled water into drinking water. People, realize that “recycled water” is just a more pleasant-sounding euphemism for wastewater, or sewage.

Got outdoor plans this weekend? Might want to cancel them. Stockton could see its wettest day in more than two years on Sunday, and Saturday won’t be much better, as another atmospheric river drenches California from the Pacific Ocean.Somewhere north of 2 inches of rain is expected over the weekend, and that doesn’t even include the earlier storm that moved in Tuesday night and early this morning, bringing wind gusts expected to top 45 mph.