California drought

Map: Extreme drought expands in LA County after ‘abysmal' start to water year

A dry start to the wet season in Southern California has the region in severe to extreme drought and more prone to destructive wildfires.

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Extreme drought expanded into parts of Los Angeles County as a dry start to the wet season continues in fire-prone Southern California, according to this week's U.S. Drought Monitor report.

Extreme drought, the second-most severe category in the weekly report, was limited to extreme southeast California last week, but parts of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties are under the category in the report released Thursday.

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The California Drought Monitor map released Jan. 23, 2025.

About 11 percent of California is in extreme drought. Thirty-three percent of the state, including northern Los Angeles County, is in severe drought.

At this time last year, no part of California was in extreme, severe or even moderate drought. About 39 percent of the state is in moderate drought with 67 percent considered abnormally dry. A large swath of Northern California, where storms have delivered rain and snow, does not fall under a drought category this week.

The report reflects a dry start to the wet season in Southern California.

"This year has been a very slow start for our water year," said meteorologist Belen De Leon. "We are, right now, at the second-driest start to the water year."

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After two seasons of above-average rainfall, a months-long dry spell left hillsides covered in dry brush, providing fuel for wildfires fanned by powerful Santa Ana winds.

The average wet season rainfall at this time of year in downtown LA is about 14.25 inches. In the 2022-2023 wet season, the region had 28.40 inches of rain followed by 25.19 inches of rain in 2023-2024.

So far in this season, which extends from October to April, downtown LA has record 0.16 inches of rain.

Average rainfall for January, the second-wettest month of the year, is close to 4 inches. No rain has been recorded this month in downtown LA, but cooler temperatures and a slight chance for rain are in the weekend forecast.

"The abysmal start to the water year continues over much of southern California, southern Nevada and Utah, and into Arizona and New Mexico," according to the Drought Monitor report. "Most of the managed water systems are fine in the region after two consecutive wet winters, but the short-term drought indicators for the current water year are highlighting the significant short-term drought in the Southwest into southern California. Degradation to drought status continued this week with drought expanding and intensifying over much of southern California."

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