Storm Ends, Giving Brief Snow Break : Weather: Northern Californians venture out into drifts as high as 12 feet to clear roofs and stockpile food. Another blast is on the way.

The fierce snowstorm that swept through Northern California in recent days dissolved into rainfall in Los Angeles on Saturday, giving the mountain towns in the north a brief chance to dig out before another barrage of snow, expected to swing south from Alaska, hits them this week.

As storm clouds gave way to sunny skies in the mountains, major highways were reopened and thousands of stranded travelers began moving out. From Mt. Shasta south to Lake Tahoe, power was beginning to be restored and snow advisories were lifted. Many residents emerged from their homes for the first time in days, only to find drifts that had blown as high as 12 feet.

“We’re trying to get the snow off our roofs fast so we don’t get crushed,” said Linda Pieruccini, a dispatcher for the Mt. Shasta Police Department. “We really want the people of L.A. to come up here with their shovels. After all, we’re giving you water to flush your toilets.”

The storms dropped light snow in the Grapevine area and rain showers in Los Angeles before moving into western Arizona. The addition to the High Sierra’s snowpack, which is the main source of water for urban Californians, led to hopes that the state’s drought may have finally come to an end.

“It certainly is encouraging, but we can’t say the drought is over yet,” said Jerry Gewe, a water resources engineer with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. “This is the first time in the last five years that we’re at normal water levels. . . . But it’s still early in the rainy season and we still need some more storms.”

Another storm could hit the northernmost portions of the state as early as Monday but the next real gust of foul weather--which is expected to bring more rain to the Southland--is not due until midweek, according to Steve Burback of WeatherData Inc., the Wichita, Kansas firm that provides weather information to The Times.

Saturday’s rain did not prevent an estimated 80,000 people from gathering in Pasadena to view the Rose Parade floats. The intersection of Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards got so crowded that officials urged people to stay home until today, when the floats will be on view again from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In Mt. Shasta, a state of emergency remained in effect Saturday as local volunteer firefighters, aided by more than 50 members of the California National Guard, helped clear roads and move supplies. Residents, in preparation for the next storm, flooded local stores to stockpile food.

“If you live here, you never know what Mother Nature is going to give you,” said Yvonne Edwards, 65, a longtime resident of Mt. Shasta who spent Saturday shoveling off her roof. As electricity flickered on and off throughout the day, she has relied on her wood-burning stove for heat and flashlights and candles for light.

Officials continued to warn about the dangers of avalanches, with the U.S. Forest Service issuing advisories for the undeveloped areas on the eastern slopes of the Sierra.

Concern was also great in the Mammoth Lakes area, where a man died under an avalanche Wednesday. At the Mammoth Mountain ski resort, the ski patrol took to the slopes at dawn Saturday to cause controlled avalanches with artillery and dynamite.

Traffic began moving through the region again after snowplows worked much of the night Friday to reopen highways. U.S. 50, one of the two routes through the Sierra, was the last to open Saturday. The other main routes, Interstate 80 and Interstate 5, reopened Friday, although the California Highway Patrol reported that some lanes were still covered with drifting snow.

A slow-moving storm hit the state Wednesday near the Oregon border, blanketing an 80-mile stretch of I-5 with windblown snow and dumping enough rain along the Northern California coast to prompt flood warnings on several rivers.

The snow fell around Mt. Shasta throughout the day Thursday, and by nightfall almost three feet had piled up, pushing December’s total close to nine feet, the third-highest amount recorded this century.

Shortly after dawn New Year’s Day, the snowfall began letting up around Mt. Shasta and Caltrans opened a narrow path on I-5. The California Highway Patrol escorted traffic through at 35 m.p.h. By then, the main force of the storm had turned southeast, piling new snow on the High Sierra, where as much as five feet had fallen earlier in the week.