2/15    This appears to be the rain we were looking for. Is it having
        the effect we'd hoped to see?
        \_ While the recent storms have been good news for the region's water
           outlook, hydrologists say they still aren't enough to erase a dry
           January.
           The snowpack water content in the Tahoe basin is running about
           70 percent of average for the date.
        \_ "It's not unreasonable to assume if we stay wet, we'll catch up to
            normal by the end of the week," said Steve Goldstein, a forecaster
            with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. "I'm somewhat
            optimistic we'll end up with a near normal or even slightly above
            normal winter," in Northern California.