More than half of California was “abnormally dry” just days into the new year, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s latest update.
As of Friday, Jan. 3, areas of “moderate drought” were isolated to Southern California while a sliver of the state near the Oregon border was under “severe drought,” the Drought Monitor said.
“Abnormally dry” spots could be found in northern and central California as well as the southwestern corner of the state.
Here’s a look at drought conditions across California:
How much of California is in drought?
As of Friday, about 40% of California was in drought, according to the Drought Monitor’s weekly map showing drought intensities across the nation.
That’s a decrease of more than two percentage points compared to Dec. 24, when about 43.4% of the state was under drought conditions.
About 31.5% of California was under moderate drought conditions as of Friday and 5.7% was under severe drought conditions, the map indicated.
