This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

A lull in a series of powerful winter storms gave Northern California a chance Monday to clean up from widespread flooding while also assessing how all that moisture is altering the state’s once-grim drought picture.

A few big storms alone won’t end the six-year drought, but there were growing signs that the so-called atmospheric river was making a major dent.

Officials released water from the Folsom Lake reservoir and several others as a flood control measure.

For the first time in 11 years, the floodgates of the Sacramento River were opened Monday morning, releasing a wall of water downstream into the Yolo Bypass, one of several drainage areas designed to catch floodwater. The National Weather Service warned farmers in that region to move farming equipment and livestock out of the way.

Click here to read the full story on LATimes.com.