The January storms in Northern California are partly the result of El Niño. But Southern California hasn't been as lucky ... yet.
Sacramento National Weather Service Meteorologist Michelle Mead says El Niño and a shift in the southern jetstream get the credit for the wet January.
"Luckily for Northern California, the southern jet stream has actually been focused a little further north, which is why Northern California has been experiencing such wet weather since Jan. 1,” Mead says. “So, yes this is a more typical El Niño pattern.”
Mead says the Sierra Nevada statewide snowpack is 111 percent of normal this month.
"The northern Sierra to date stands at 121 percent of average, the central Sierra at 115 percent and the southern Sierra at 91 percent,” she said.
Mead says there's still "a long way to go" to fill the state's major reservoirs, which are only about 50 percent of average so far this month.
This story was produced by Capital Public Radio.