LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — The skiing and snowboarding season is off to an early start in the Sierra Nevada, thanks to the powerful atmospheric river that delivered plenty of snow well ahead of winter.

Lifts began operating Friday weeks ahead of schedule at Palisades Tahoe and Boreal in the Lake Tahoe region and about 125 miles to the south at Mammoth Mountain.

The big storm hit Northern California on Sunday, setting rainfall records and coating the Sierra in snow.

The U.S. Drought Monitor says the storm did cause some reduction of areas considered to be in extreme and exceptional drought, the worst categories.