Rainfall should help pastures

It's finally raining again in the Central Valley, and while most areas recorded less than a quarter-inch of precipitation yesterday, today's shower will add to the total.

From the National Weather Service:

Areas of light to moderate rain continue to move east this morning across interior Northern California valley and foothill locations with some slushy snow above the 5000 foot elevations.

Redding and Sacramento netted 0.15 inches of rain yesterday while Red Bluff saw only 0.07 inches, according to the weather service. Granted, it's not much. But any wet weather will help ranchers who've been concerned about their grasslands.

From the California Farm Bureau Federation:

Cattle ranchers in Northern California say grasses are slow to grow this year, leading to challenges finding enough forage for their herds. While last year saw a dry fall and wet spring, this year has included the opposite pattern—a wet fall and dry spring. Ranchers report seeing pastures starting to dry out as grasses die. They say this typically happens six or eight weeks from now, and they are concerned about whether more rain will come to replenish the range.