California sees some rain, but too little to help

SAN FRANCISCO - An unusually cold spring storm is bringing near-winter temperatures to parts of Northern California, dumping heavy rain and hail on some areas and snow in the mountains.

However, the storm, while welcome, will do little to ease the state's historic drought, forecasters say.

Up to 2 feet of snow could fall Tuesday in the Sierra Nevada, according to the National Weather Service. Motorists are urged to use caution on mountain roads, where snow levels could reach 3,500 feet.

Hail was reported in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, where wind advisories were in effect for four bridges, the California Highway Patrol said.

Further north, temperatures in Eureka and across Humboldt County dipped into the 30s overnight as the system moved in.

A band of moderate precipitation brought rain measuring about 0.5 to 0.80 of an inch over Lake County, with higher amounts along the coast, the weather service said. Rain will push through the Central Valley on Tuesday morning and into the northern Sierra.

The storm is expected to spread moderate rain down the Central Coast to the Los Angeles basin by Tuesday afternoon before dwindling early Wednesday.

"It's a start, but it's just not enough," weather service forecaster Diana Henderson said. "We have a rather large deficient to make up for. One or 2 inches around the Bay Area is just not going to do it."

In the Sierra Nevada, 6 to 12 inches of snow could fall at about 4,000 feet, with 1 to 2 feet on higher peaks, forecasters say. The weather service issued a winter storm warning above 3,500 feet for heavy snow, which is in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The snowfall would be a big change from last week, when Gov. Jerry Brown stood in dry, brown grass at a site normally covered in snow this time of year and declared the drought conditions gripping the state at its worst point in decades.

The April 1 snow survey in the Sierra Nevada that Brown attended measured at a dismal 5 percent of historical average.

That same day, the governor announced an order requiring the State Water Resources Control Board to implement measures in cities and towns to cut the state's overall water usage by 25 percent compared with 2013 levels.

Cities statewide are facing increased pressure to respond to the governor's announcement. The move came under some fire, with critics saying it both came too late, and it wrongly excludes the state's biggest water users: farmers.