Though the wet weather that has drenched California over the past week has snarled traffic and created flooding issues in some low-lying areas, it is basically all good for agriculture.

From the Central Valley to the Central Coast to Southern California, growers have been smiling as the skies have opened up for the first time in seemingly years. “It’s pure water and it’s free; it’s all good,” said Phil Henry, president of Henry Avocado Corp. in Econdido, CA, which is in northern San Diego County.

“We’re happy to see it,” said Bob Cordova, president of EpicVeg Inc., which is headquartered in Lompoc, CA, between Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.

Even as streets were flooding, state water officials were reminding folks that the drought is not yet over. Officials from the state’s Department of Water Resources said California needs about five or six of these storms this winter and spring to have an above-average water year and to begin to make up the deficits racked up over the past three years. As a case in point, DWR pointed to three of California’s largest reservoirs. The warm storm that passed through the state Dec. 10-12 allowed Oroville, Shasta and Folsom reservoirs to rise for the first time since last spring. But each of those reservoirs, which provide much of agriculture with the summer irrigation water it needs, still stand at only about one-third of capacity.

For the drought to be declared over, several cold weather storms that drop snow in the higher elevations are needed. Currently, the snow pack remains below normal. Each year’s snowpack and spring runoff provides California with the vast majority of its reservoir water.

But there is no doubt that the rains have helped. Rain gauges from Eureka near the Oregon border to San Diego near the Mexico border are registering precipitation amounts well above normal for this time of year. Today, Dec. 15, in the midst of another storm, Eureka had already received 40 percent of its normal yearly average. San Diego was also at the 40 percent level. The state’s chief hydrologist, Maury Roos, cautioned that the drought was not over, but over the weekend he was quoted widely stating that personally he was feeling “kind of optimistic” about the end of the drought.

As far as agriculture was concerned, citrus growers in the Central Valley were saying the rain could do wonders for the Navel crop, helping to size the fruit and possibly produce a larger crop than has been predicted. They said the rainy weather also lessened the chance of a devastating frost. Henry said the same sizing effect can happen for California avocados. Speaking on Dec. 15, he said growers have received a steady slow rain for most of the past week, which is a best-case scenario. The trees can utilize the water without erosion or runoff issues in the grove.

While Cordova was equally happy about the rain, he said a week of wet weather has kept the planting crews inside and behind schedule. “We have to pay attention 90-105 days down the road,” he said. “There’s going to be a gap. We are planting right now for the March harvest and we haven’t been able to get into the fields for about seven days.”

Depending upon how much rain there is over the next week — and a wet week is forecast — it might be two weeks before planting operations return to normal levels. There is a lot of weather between now and the spring harvest but Cordova said at about the time the western vegetable harvest is transitioning from the desert back to the coastal and central valleys, there will almost undoubtedly be some type of gap.

In the meantime, growers are welcoming as many rain storms as they get as each one produces better water at a cheaper price than the wells or the reservoirs.