A slow build with this storm, low clouds edging in all night long. Thick mist at daybreak, just a few fat drops falling.

The wildlife here is waiting, crows hunched on telephone wires, hummingbirds hidden, great drifts of pelicans high above, sailing, a steady breeze up there, not a wing beat, not once.

To the north of us PCH is closed. To the south you hear the Zuma surf. At my feet, wet dogs. (Yes, fragrant.) And just now, right now, the real rain.

No, this awful drought isn't over but for today at least, it's not getting worse.