The Latest: Snow, rain in California, but fire areas are dry

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Latest on snow and rain falling in California's Sierra Nevada (all times local):

11:30 a.m.

Snow is falling in the Sierra Nevada and the far north is seeing a few inches of rain as a storm sweeps through California. But the fire-ravaged wine country is mostly dry.

Even so, fire crews have been setting up berms and removing debris to prevent mudslides in areas where fires last month killed at least 43 people and reduced entire neighborhoods to ash.

Santa Rosa received about a fifth of an inch of rain Friday night through Saturday morning. Not much more was forecast through the weekend.

In mountain towns in the far north, towns received 1½ to nearly 4 inches of rain.

The Sierra Nevada, which stretches 400 miles up and down California, got 2 to 6 feet of snow - a welcome gift for ski resorts preparing to open for the season in the next week or two.

Winter storm warnings remain in effect into Saturday night for the Lake Tahoe area and through Sunday afternoon elsewhere in the Sierras.

Two major roads through Yosemite National Park are closed.

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12:01 a.m.

Snow began dusting the ski slopes and peaks of the Sierra Nevada and rain fell on the far northern reaches of California.

Both were expected to go from drizzling light to heavy as the weekend continues.

Snow plows and other snow-removal equipment were parked on roads in the mountains Friday ahead of the storms expected to dump up to 2 feet of snow in some spots.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm advisory for the Lake Tahoe area from Friday night through Saturday night.

The storm moving in from the Gulf of Alaska soaked the state's Redwood Coast for several hours.