San Diego County has slipped back into severe drought conditions, with a new round of Santa Ana winds and critical fire weather conditions exacerbating the risk for wildfires to spread rapidly. NOAA is predicting below average rainfall for the Southern California region through the month of January.

As firefighters struggle to gain control of massive and deadly wildfires that are raging across parts of the Los Angeles area, the region is once again bracing for the potential of new fires and for current ones to intensify as a new storm system heads for the state.