El Niño rains only slightly increased historic low reservoir levels in California

Releasing an initial water outlook for farmers, federal officials said heavy rains and strong Sierra Nevada snowpack could help, but reservoirs remain low

The recent onslaught of El Nino storms only slightly increased the levels of California reservoirs that stand at half of historic depths for this time of year, federal officials said on Friday while releasing an initial water outlook for 2016.

Heavy rainfall has soaked into a landscape that has been parched by four years of drought, and the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has grown but hasn't started to melt off and replenish the critically low reservoirs, US Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Shane Hunt said.