Hopefully it gets into the soil system. A friend down in CA heard a hydrologist for the Sierra talking about a worrying trend: If the year’s rain/snow comes in one sudden spurt, dry soils are overwhelmed and can’t take it into the water table….further drying soils, round and round. So while the inches may look high, it may not be getting into the system…

I hope that's not the case as that seems to fit what happens up here in WA as well. We've been getting hammered with snow in the mountains (all of our major mountain passes have been closed for a few days now, and while I've only lived here for six years, there hasn't been such an extended pass closure, especially of all passes at once, since I've lived here). I'm really hoping that our bad fire seasons are diminished this year.