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

The next Pacific storm will spread rain and mountain snow from Washington to Northern California by the middle of the week. The winter months are typically the stormiest months of the year across the Northwest, and this season has proven no different. Since Jan. 4, Seattle has had only one day without measurable rainfall. A strong Pacific storm coming into the West will bring more soaking rain and heavy mountain snow from the Pacific Northwest through central California Tuesday through Wednesday night, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jack Boston.

In April 2015, California Gov. Jerry Brown called on the people of the most populous state to reduce their water use by 25 percent in response to a punishing four-year drought. It was an audacious goal, and Californians came close to meeting it. Between June 2015 and April 2016, when restrictions were in effect, residents reduced the amount of water they used by 24.5 percent.

After a blockbuster snowpack winter for 2016-2017, California is once again in a snow drought and these National Park Service webcams, comparing this week to the same week in 2017, show the shocking difference.Last winter, the snow at the Yosemite “High Sierra” webcam, shown above and located at about 8,000 feet in Northern California, nearly covered the camera. This year, there is barely snow on Half Dome peak shown on the webcam.

An investigation into last winter’s near catastrophe at Oroville Dam uncovered a litany of problems with how the dam was built and maintained, but one of them stands out: Even as workers built the dam, they were raising alarms about the eroded, crumbling rock on which they were directed to lay concrete for the 3,000-foot-long main flood control spillway.