TWIN FALLS -- Although the calendar officially marks today as the first day of winter, Idaho has experienced winter-like conditions for nearly a month.
      The region has received a healthy dose of rain and snow since late November, all but erasing the drought that has nearly drained the state's reservoirs.
      Since October, the Twin Falls area has received 2.69 inches of rain and 13.3 inches of snow, while Idaho's overall statewide basin snowpack average has climbed to 139 percent of normal.
      Additionally, the lack of a big freeze has helped replenish the groundwater. Although most nights the temperature has dropped below freezing, the relatively warm days have prevented the ground from permanently freezing, allowing much of the precipitation to soak into the ground rather than run off into the streams, officials said.
      Still, Dick Larsen, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Water Resources, cautions against premature optimism.
      "We're off to a great start, but we've got a long way to go before we can be confident," he said.
      With the snow accumulation season running from the beginning of November to the end of March, and with the bulk of the major storms occurring near the end of the season, a lot remains up in the air.
      Larsen points out last year's winter season also started off promising, with snowpack measuring 87 percent by mid-December, but ended with a fizzle, totaling only 50 percent.
      "We start off good, but then it just quits. Sometimes is just stops snowing," he said. "We desperately need this weather pattern to continue. We live or die based on our snowpack."
      Long-range forecasts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boise are calling for normal temperatures and normal precipitation for the remainder of the season.
      Les Colin, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Boise, said this "wet and stormy period for the last couple of weeks" may change to a dry period in the first week of January.
      Farmers have borne the brunt of the drought that plagued the recent year.
      Rick Rodgers, a farmer in Roseworth who grows malt barley, hay and feed corn, welcomes the precipitation. Arid conditions caused Rodgers to lose $30,000 last year, forcing him to leave 140 acres of his nearly 900 acres fallow because of an irrigation water shortage.
      Terry Kramer, a Castleford farmer of barley and alfalfa, tempers his enthusiasm with measured amounts of caution.
      "This has been extremely helpful," he said, adding that it's going to require at least 200 percent of normal moisture to sufficiently recharge the groundwater supply. "One hundred percent isn't going to do it."
      Farmers aren't the only people happy with the weather. Others include:
      * Ski resorts. The abundance of snow naturally has people in that industry overjoyed.
      "This record snowpack we have for this time of year has got our phones ringing," said Jack Sibbach, spokesman for the Sun Valley Resort. "Business has picked up briskly."
      The top of the mountain in the Sun Valley region is measuring 81 inches of snow, the most Sibbach has seen since 1982.
      * Fire officials. The snow being dumped in the mountains could also pave the way for a lower fire danger in the upcoming year, said Ed Waldapfel, spokesman for Sawtooth National Forest. The rain and snow are soaking into the large fuel -- the dead trees and other wood on the forest floor -- making it more difficult to ignite during the summer months.
      "This is tremendous for us," he said.
      The potential for fire will be known in the spring, when he evaluates the moisture in the wood, grass and duff layer of pine needles.