KERN COUNTY, CA - All the recent rain will certainly help our drought, but is it enough to pull us out of this water state of emergency?
According to water officials, a rain like this only makes a slight dent in this year's water woes and here's why.
Kern County gets 25 percent of its water from canals. That water comes from the snowpack in the Sierra-Nevada. This year, we're getting not one drop of that supply, which means we are relying on water from wells.
With all the pumping, the supply of well water is quickly dropping, which means the wells are in desperate need to be recharged. But according to water officials, it would need to rain hard every other day until May to get us back up to average rain totals.
"It's great getting some weather. We need rain desperately. Does it cure our problems? Absolutely not. People cannot think we are out of a drought," said Curtis Creel, Assistant General Manager of the Kern County Water Agency.
As for farmers, in the short-term this does help. It means they probably won't have to pump water for a week, a big cost savings and a help to the water basin. That goes for homeowners as well when it comes to watering your lawn. Officials say turn off your automated sprinklers right now because you probably won't need them for a week.
Surprisingly, this rain isn't all good for farmers. In fact there's one crop it could hurt badly.
Too much rain can destroy the blossoms on almond trees budding right now.
That's because too much rain can cause fungal disease.
Farmers have been preparing for the rain for a week, doing what are called bloom sprays, spraying the trees with fungicide to prevent the mold.
Farmers should know within five to ten days if there was any significant damage. But, farmers said they'll risk the fungal damage for the rain.