You are now in San Diego County category.

A fast-moving storm soaked much of Southern California today, as frequent lightning strikes startled commuters and momentarily cut power at Los Angeles International Airport.

The storm, which had rolled south into Baja California by late morning, follows a weekend of rainy weather, traffic accidents and several swift water rescues. Northern California also saw its share of weather drama as powerful storms dumped rain across coastal regions and piles of snow in the Sierra.

A New York City-based company working with two Mexican partners has launched construction of an ocean water desalination plant in the agricultural region of San Quintin some 160 miles from the San Diego border.

Scheduled to open in the summer of 2017, the plant would provide 5.8 million gallons of water daily to more than 100,000 residents of the region. The cost of the project is about $32 million at current exchange rates. It is the first to be approved under Baja California’s new public-private partnership law.

As an extraordinarily hot and dry February gives way to what we hope will be a much wetter March, it’s worthwhile to take a few steps back and consider how well-prepared our region is to thrive even in drought.

There are many factors, of course, but long-term planning and cooperation are big reasons why we have adequate supplies when other parts of the state are struggling. That’s an accomplishment worth celebrating during one of the driest periods in California history.