With impressive L.A. rain and Bay Area snow, hope rises for a rare wet winter

Snowcapped mountains are pretty typical in California -- just not the peaks that got a dusting this week.

A series of storms has brought a rare wet winter to the state, sending snow levels plunging and creating some surreal scenes Californians won't soon forget: a blanket of white covering vineyards in Napa Valley. Plows clearing California 17 between Santa Cruz and San Jose. Peaks in the San Francisco Bay Area with an alpine feel. Even San Francisco's Twin Peaks got some snow.

The conditions highlight a season of storms that have left their mark from the Sierra Nevada range, where one-third of California's water supply originates, to Los Angeles, which has endured six dry winters out of its last seven. It's a welcome turn of events for a state still recovering from severe drought.

In the Sierra, as much as 10 feet ...