California’s reservoirs are still brimming from last winter’s heavy rains and snow, even as El Niño raises the possibility of a second strong rainy season in a row, state and federal officials said.

The drought-prone state began its new water year Oct. 1 with supplies in far better shape than last fall. California reservoirs run by the US Bureau of Reclamation currently hold more than twice as much water as the historic average for this date, said Regional Director Ernest Conant in a briefing Tuesday with reporters. It’s a welcome turnaround after years of sparse winter precipitation that left many basins surrounded by bathtub rings of dry dirt and triggered conservation efforts across the nation’s most populous state.

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California Water Reservoirs Are Still Brimming as El Niño Looms