California has faced budget crises before, but this could be the perfect storm of a chronically unbalanced budget made infinitely worse by disaster.

The first significant storm of the season brought snow and downpours to Southern California that doused wildfires and caused some ash and mud to flow across streets in the Los Angeles area on Monday.

Less than an inch of rain fell in most areas, but it was enough to loosen Los Angeles hillsides burned bare by the recent blaze near the Pacific Palisades.

More rain fell Monday on parts of Southern California after causing mudflows over the weekend, helping firefighters but boosting the risk of toxic ash runoff in areas scorched by Los Angeles-area wildfires.