Valley growers hopeful storms will keep water flowing in the spring and summer

The longer the clouds that bring rains and especially snow linger, the more hopeful Valley farmers are becoming.

"It was obviously a very dry December, January, and February; March is kind of being that savior right now, that hopefully, we are going to be able to have some snow in the Sierra Nevada to get us through that spring and summer," said Ryan Jacobson from the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

The state says that most of California's reservoirs are now at nearly normal levels for this time in the season.

Millerton Lake is 65% full, which is 96% of capacity. Pine Flat is 55% full or at 100% of normal for this time of year.

More could be coming, but so far it looks like growers will be able to at least get by.

"It's shaping up to be about 50% if we are on the lucky side, and 50% of average is still very much shy," said Jacobson. "But, if you go back just three weeks ago we were at 20%, so that's a big saving grace right now."

Action News chief meteorologist Kevin Musso says after a dry winter, March might seem like a miracle but falls a bit short.

"I wouldn't call it a March Miracle, I would call it a March make up. Because with the rain falling today we will close to the average for the month of March, Being exceptional, or a miracle would be like 7.25" we had in the early 90's."

Musso expects we could be at about 2" of rain after this storm, which is normal for this time of year. He expects we could finish the season with 50-60% of normal precipitation.

The real key to whether this amounts to another March miracle is in the measurement of the water content of the snow. In March 1991 it was 85%. Currently, the statewide water content average of the snow is only 40%.