FILE - Water flows in the LA River on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025.

Despite recent rounds of winter rain and powerful waves that pummeled the coastline, most of California is continuing to bake under a deep drought, with over half of the state facing “abnormally dry” conditions at the start of the new year, the U.S. Drought Monitor’s latest map shows.

Released on Wednesday, the map revealed 59.1% of the state is impacted by drought conditions from as far north as Lassen County, stretching down into the Bay Area and most of the Central Valley, and worsening in slivers of Southern California, where “moderate” to “extreme” drought conditions were recorded in San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties. Affected portions of the Bay Area include parts of Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties.

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An inch or more of rain fell across most of Northern California as December drew to a close, with some regions experiencing 8 more inches of precipitation than normal,........

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