Rainy season is here, but will the Valley see any of the showers?

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Rain soaked the Valley and snow covered our mountain tops this week.

"As you know we haven't had snow over the sierra until this most recent storm which helped us tremendously. We've had about 20 inches of new snow with this past storm that occurred," said Kevin Durfee, National Weather Service Meteorologist.

So far Fresno has seen about half an inch of rain and more is expected.

China Peak has seen about 4 to 8 inches of snow and has high hopes to open on Dec. 1, and it it just might happen with another chance for wet weather anticipated next week.

"We are in an active pattern right now and we are going to stay in a relatively rather stormy pattern for the next 7-10 days," Durfee said.

But what about beyond next week?

Durfee says the Climate Prediction Center released outlooks.

Right now it seems to be favoring wetter weather.

"So this is the 3 month outlook from the Climate Predication Center that runs from December through February ans it's looking encouraging. It's got above normal precipitation expected across much of California," Durfee said.

He says the Climate Prediction Center puts together these outlooks based on what's currently happening and they're updated about every 15 days.

Durfee added the Climate Prediction Center is forecasting a weak El Nino, but it doesn't mean the Valley will see extreme amounts of rain.

"Normally El Ninos bring above normal precipitation to Southern California but in Central California it could go either way. Majority of El Ninos are wetter than normal but then we've had extremely dry el ninos as well," he said.

Durfee says even though Fresno has seen some rain we are still below normal for this time of year. It is all on the heels of last year's very dry winter.