Storm clouds and rain move across the San Francisco Bay, Tuesday, April 7, 2015, in Hayward, Calif. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow, a welcome respite that will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters said. (AP Photo/Bay Area News Group, Aric Crabb) MANDATORY SF BAY AREA CREDIT TO PHOTOGRAPHER AND PUBLICATION
LOS ANGELES - The rainwater from a rare spring storm that pooled on Gilbert Jaffe's front sidewalk could be seen as a nuisance, but in California's extreme drought conditions, he was treating it like the precious resource it's become.
Jaffe, a retired Boeing engineer, scooped up buckets of water during brief showers Tuesday night and carried it to barrels in his backyard near downtown Los Angeles.
"I've been collecting water for a couple of years," Jaffe said. "I use the rainwater for my garden."
He had been watering his tomatoes and peppers for six weeks with rain he collected during a bigger storm in February, and he hoped the new haul could keep up his no-tap-water streak.
The storm brought mostly light rainfall across much of Southern California on Tuesday night after dousing the northern part of the state. It was a welcome respite, but will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters say.
The dry conditions led Gov. Jerry Brown to order cities and towns last week to cut their consumption by 25 percent.
Tuesday's storm knocked out power to thousands for several hours, and the Los Angeles Dodgers had a rare rain delay on the second day of the season.
Amy Jackson, 35, of Los Angeles, a corporate securities paralegal, welcomed the weather as smoked a cigarette in the lee of a downtown skyscraper.
"We're absolutely thrilled to have rain," she said. "I mean, we're in a really severe drought right now. It's been scary, actually, as to how low our reservoirs have gotten ... so to even have this little bit, it's great."
But not everyone was happy.
"Rain makes me insane," said James Haynes, a 16-year-old Los Angeles high school student trying to avoid the drizzle while waiting for a ride home. "I've got to take the bus ... and with all that rain and stuff ... that's too much to deal with."
Earlier in the day, heavy rain and hail fell on parts of Northern California and coated the mountains in snow.
The storm brought enough snow to the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe to produce near-whiteout conditions on roadways and a string of wrecks, leading the California Highway Patrol to order drivers off a 15-mile stretch of major highway Tuesday afternoon.
In the mountains, up to 6 inches of snow was expected above 7,000 feet, with 2 to 4 inches likely to accumulate as low as 3,000 feet before the system clears out Wednesday.
More than an inch of rain fell in some counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, where rainy weather slowed the morning commute, caused some wrecks and led to wind advisories for four bridges, officials said.
The rain offered welcome relief for farmers in central California.
Fresno County farmer Keith Nilmeier grows 320 acres of citrus, peaches and wine grapes, and the rain will force him to spray his trees with fungicide to keep the fruit from rotting. But he said it is worth the extra expense, because California needs the water.
"That's farming," he said. "You deal with Mother Nature on her own terms."
A man rides his bicycle around a flooded section of roadway as demolition continues in the background at Candlestick Park Tuesday, April 7, 2015, in San Francisco. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow, a welcome respite that will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters say. Candlestick Park is being demolished so houses, a hotel and a shopping center can be built on the site of the former home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team and 49ers football team. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Motorists on the CA-101 freeway face rainy weather in Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow. The storm dumped rain in parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, could bring three to four hours of steady rain later in the day to parts of Los Angeles County. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Sacramento City Urban Forestry workers Enrique Gamez, left, and Ignacio Moreno remove a tree limb that has fallen into the street after a storm swept through Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, April 7, 2015. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow, a welcome respite that will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters say. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Snow is shown on a tree and on the ground in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Monday, April 6, 2015. In the wake of an incredibly warm March, an unusually cold spring storm is rolling in. The strong and wet storm that will linger in Northern California through midweek will do little to help the fix the drought. (AP Photo/Tahoe Daily Tribune, Isaac Brambila)
Sacramento City Urban Forestry worker David Bonomi moves a tree limb that has fallen into the street after a storm swept through Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, April 7, 2015. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow, a welcome respite that will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters say. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Gayle Cowen and his dog, Bud, find the sidewalk blocked by a fallen tree limb at East Portal Park in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, April 7,2015. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow, a welcome respite that will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters say. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Malia McAllister-Garcia, a senior at Colfax High School, takes a video of herself on the school campus Tuesday, April 7, 2015, in Colfax, Calif. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow, a welcome respite that will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters say. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Randy Pench)
Gilbert Jaffe, a retired Satellite Engineer at Lockheed Martin, collects rain water from his sidewalk into his back garden in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Jaffe said that he has been able to collect and recycle enough rain and gray water to water his home vegetable garden without tapping into city water since Feb. 2015. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Gilbert Jaffe, a retired Satellite Engineer at Lockheed Martin, collects rain water from his roof into a container in his back garden in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Jaffe said that he has been able to collect and recycle enough rain and gray water to water his home vegetable garden without tapping into city water since Feb. 2015. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Gilbert Jaffe, a retired Satellite Engineer at Lockheed Martin, collects rain water in his back garden in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Jaffe said that he has been able to collect and recycle enough rain and gray water to water his home vegetable garden without tapping into city water since Feb. 2015. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
A boy plays with snow on Tuesday, April 7, 2015, in Colfax, Calif. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow, a welcome respite that will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters say. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Randy Pench)
Gilbert Jaffe, a retired Satellite Engineer at Lockheed Martin, collects rain water from his roof into plastic containers in his back garden in the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Jaffe said that he has been able to collect and recycle enough rain and gray water to water his home vegetable garden without tapping into city water since Feb. 2015. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Snow blankets an area along Interstate 80, Tuesday, April 7, 2015, in Baxter, Calif. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow, a welcome respite that will do little to ease the historic drought, forecasters say. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Randy Pench)
Cecilia Xiong, left, and her father, Kachang Xiong, walk to Parkway Elementary School, Tuesday, April 7, 2015, in Sacramento, Calif. An unusually cold spring storm brought heavy rain and hail to parts of Northern California on Tuesday and coated the mountains in snow. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Hector Amezcua)