It sounds like excessive gloom and doom, but I need to mention the fabulous snowpack of early January has become just a very good snowpack. And that's not bad.

But it was looking like an epic year three weeks ago. The snowpack was more than double its usual size for early January.

The storm conveyor belt shut down. We're seeing the true face of La Nina. Wet weather bounces into the Pacific Northwest. Australia is getting pummeled and flooded.

Meanwhile, the San Joaquin Valley has this weeks-long bout of fog, which seems to have settled in like a chronic case of bronchitis.

Most importantly, though, the Northern Sierra snowpack -- providing a huge slug of water for 25 million Californians and vast stretches of farming -- is down to 117% of average.

It's two-thirds the size of an average snow pack on April 1. That's more than respectable for this time of year.

But the state needs more storms in the next two months.