At 93 degrees, Lake Forest was the hottest spot in the United States.
"We’re about halfway through the rain season, so we’ve only got February and March, and they better be a miracle," said climatologist Bill Patzert.
"It’s been a hot summer, a hot fall, and even now in the midwinter.
Downtown L.A. sweated through its hottest Thanksgiving (92 degrees) since records began being kept.
Rapf said heavy Santa Ana winds helped fuel the fire, but that the dry brush made the situation even more dangerous.
The snow in the Sierra Nevada, California’s greatest mountain range, has been disappointing compared with last year’s record-breaking season.
"Unfortunately, the water content of the January snowpack is only slightly higher than it was in January 2015, while we were in the middle of a crippling statewide drought," John Leahigh, executive manager of water operations for the State Water Project, said in a statement.
The water content in the northern Sierra Nevada snowpack was only 30% of normal for this time of year; a year ago, officials recorded it at 182%.
"In the Sierra, we had 10 strong ‘atmospheric rivers’ that affected the northern and central Sierra last year," said Chris Johnston, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Reno office.
The U.S. Forest Service has estimated that more than 102 million drought-stressed and beetle-ravaged trees have died across 7.7 million acres of California forest since 2010 — unprecedented in the recorded history of the Sierra.

When it comes to agriculture, Western Cape is essential – not only because of its production of fine wines, but also for its contribution to South Africa’s agricultural labour market and the broader economy.
The province is a leading employer in primary agriculture, commanding a share of 20 percent of the country’s total agricultural labour force in the third quarter of 2017.
It is thus clear that when the province’s agriculture encounters headwinds, a lot will be at stake; the current unrelenting drought is no exception.
Of the 25,000 job cuts in South Africa’s agricultural sector in the third quarter, about 84 percent were in Western Cape.
There was reduced agricultural activity in the summer crop production areas at that time of the year.
Overall, South Africa’s total agricultural labour force was estimated at 810,000 jobs, which is the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2014.
South Africa’s agricultural labour market was relatively more vibrant in the 2015/16 season, despite the El Niño-induced drought in many parts of the country at the time.
This is because Western Cape was not hit as hard as the other provinces had been, and was able to continue absorbing labour.
In terms of the overall agricultural economy, the sector performed robustly in the past three quarters of 2017, supported by a recovery in summer crop production following several seasons of drought in some areas, as well as the low base effect.
Western Cape’s horticultural sector also performed relatively well in 2017, contributing to the good performance of the sector.

A drought has been declared across Southland and large parts of Otago.
Minister for Agriculture and Rural Communities Damien O’Connor announced this afternoon that a "medium-scale adverse event classification" had been extended to Southland and Otago’s Queenstown Lakes, Central Otago and Clutha districts.
The classification, which was already in place for other parts of New Zealand, triggered additional funding of up to $130,000 for the local Rural Support Trusts and industry groups to coordinate recovery support.
"We’ve been working with local farming groups, councils and Niwa to monitor how the drought has been progressing and the impact on the farming communities.
"Anticipated rain that could have provided respite just hasn’t fallen in the right areas to mitigate the effects of the early hot dry summer.
"Farmers have been unable to grow sufficient feed for winter, and have been using stored feed and buying in supplements for stock, as well as selling off animals.
"Some useful rain is predicted for this week, however the drought has already taken its toll on farms and will take time to recover from.
"While rain now would allow pasture to grow, this can take a month to translate into feed for animals, and many are now well behind in preparing for winter," Mr O’Connor said.
The drought was originally classified as a medium-scale adverse event in the North Island across Taranaki, western parts of Manawatu-Whanganui and Wellington, and the Grey and Buller districts of the South Island’s West Coast over the Christmas period.
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ROGERS, Texas – The Lone Star State is under a dry spell as almost half of Texas is experiencing some type of drought conditions, causing ripple effects across the state.
According the U.S. Drought Monitor, half of Texas is in moderate drought conditions.
“Some people might be a little surprised to hear that we’re in a drought, because it’s been kind of damp at times this month.
He hopes when it finally does rain, the landscape techniques he is using will help collect and store rainwater more efficiently.
His 150-acre property in Bell County has been hit hard this January.
Ninety percent of his produce had to be replanted this past week.
He normally uses a pond to irrigate the crops, but because there’s barely been any rain, the pond has dropped by almost 5 feet.
The freeze and the drought has also affected his bottom line.
“This has been a pretty tough month, but without food to sell there’s no money coming in," McConnell said.
The weather is also not helping fire risk.

As most of you know… we’re in a drought.
We have just come off the 6th driest December on record for Colorado Springs with January only yielding 1.7" of snow for the city.
The newest drought monitor, updated a few days ago on January 25th, shows that only 0.59% of the state is drought free.
That means nearly 100% of Colorado is experiencing at least some sort of abnormally dry condition to a drought!
The areas in the lighter tan, including Colorado Springs and Pueblo, are areas under a moderate drought.
The darker orange colors are areas under a severe drought, with that number now at 29.21%.
Here’s a look at what last year’s drought situation was at this time: Can you guess the difference because the ski resorts still can!
Last year we started seeing very large snows in the mountains and that kept nearly the entire western half of Colorado drought free.
Looking at Snowtel Data provided by the USDA, we are really hurting in the mountains this year for snow pack.
Snowtel data looks at the snow packs and shows where the river basic would be if all the snow melted.

That would make Cape Town the world’s first major city to run dry.
The other day I had a dream that I took a long shower by mistake!” From Feb. 1, Cape Town has told residents they can use no more than 13.2 gallons of drinking water a day in an effort to avoid "Day Zero."
If "Day Zero" does arrive, many people would have to go to collection points guarded by security forces for a daily ration of 6.6 gallons.
Taps would continue to run in hospitals and provisions would be made for schools, some of which can pump water from boreholes.
“Many people tell me they think I’m crazy for doing all these things to save water at home.
But even with "Day Zero" looming, officials say 60 percent of Cape Town residents are still not complying with current restrictions.
@CityofCT I caught an elderly person with her sprinklers on yesterday.
This is the same person you exempt from water restrictions last year because she could not afford a borehole.
“People are still watering their lawns, filling their pools and bathing.
It’s so upsetting,” Stodel said.

A drought may be declared in Otago and Southland within days.
Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer Record heat and prolonged dry conditions have been hitting farmers hard.
Federated Farmers representative in Central Otago, Andrew Paterson, said he expected an official drought to be also called for Central Otago and Southland within the next week.
It had received only 290mm of rain, when the average was 500mm, he said.
Water was getting scarce.
Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer Irrigation has already been halved in the area and was heading towards 25 percent or a complete stop.
His farm had little grass and it had had to offload thousands of lambs and cattle that it would normally fatten first – even stock water was getting low.
Not only that but the extreme heat was taking its toll too.
Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer "Since we started tailing, which was last week in November, the heat just hasn’t let up," he said.
Farmers needed more support, said Mr Paterson.

By the end of 2017, 6.2 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance and over 1 million people internally displaced.
DINA, or Drought Impact and Needs Assessment It was within this context that the Somali Government—with the support of the United Nations (UN), the World Bank and the European Union (EU)—carried out an assessment (DINA, as above) of the impact of the 2017 drought on the lives and livelihoods of Somali people.
With government leadership, 180 sector experts from the Somali Government, the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Bank collected data across 18 sectors, incorporating existing data from the Somalia Humanitarian Needs Overview.
With damages amounting to $1.02 billion, and losses estimated at $2.23 billion, the DINA estimates that the total effect of the most recent drought in Somalia is expected to exceed $3.25 billion.
Total recovery needs are estimated at $1.77 billion.
Agriculture (irrigated and rain-fed crops) and urban development and municipal services are the most affected sectors, representing 28% and 17% of the total needs.
The EU, UN, and World Bank have worked on similar needs analysis and recovery frameworks since 2013, and their support complements both Somalia’s national priorities (through its National Development Plan and National Disaster Management Policy) and the Humanitarian Response Plan.
The RFF allows Somali institutions to build on existing efforts to strengthen their resilience to recurrent disaster.
The government also adopted the Somali National Disaster Management Policy that provides the legislative framework for disaster management within relevant government institutions, and improves disaster risk governance at federal and regional state levels.
Continuing humanitarian assistance and livelihood support to Somalia is vital in 2018, paralleled by development solutions that focus on job creation, access to finance, and support to public service delivery, to ensure that drought never turns to famine again.

Hospitals, key economic and industrial areas and densely populated areas with a higher risk of disease would be exempt from a water cut-off, said municipal authorities, who plan to open a disaster operations center on Monday to prepare for a possible closure of taps in a city known internationally for its natural beauty and tourist attractions.
South Africa’s second-biggest city ramped up contingency plans as the water crisis hurt tourism and politicians bickered over alleged failures to offset a looming disaster blamed on explosive population growth over the last two decades and several years of drought that scientists say was possibly exacerbated by man-made global warming.
Security forces would guard 200 water collection points where residents can pick up 25 liters (6.6 gallons) daily if the tap cut-off occurs, authorities said.
Providers of bottled water are being encouraged to increase supply so people have the option of buying water, and water tankers would deliver to homes for the elderly and other care facilities.
Cape Town is run by the opposition Democratic Alliance party, which says the national government of the ruling African National Congress party has failed to deliver water to all municipalities as required by law.
On Sunday, the ANC’s provincial branch said the "Day Zero" warning was an opposition gimmick to drum up a sense of "gloom and doom" and suggested its own solutions, including reductions in production by brewers and soft drink companies.
"We need water, not sugary and alcoholic drinks," the party said.
Meanwhile, tourism is taking a hit.
Agencies have received cancellations from domestic and international travelers, said Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy, according to the African News Agency.
He was asked about the city’s crisis at a news conference.

"They’re certainly not helping us by calling it a dry time, when it’s quite obvious that it is a drought," he said.
"The State Government’s sort of put this flag up that they’re helping us, but they’re not."
The situation is playing out at the region’s livestock markets as producers offload stock at record high levels.
There’s even been some cows going to Tasmania — these cattle are going to get sent to three or four states," he said.
"There’s going to be long-term repercussions in this area because to get back in [to the market] is going to be financially really significant, but it’s been taken out of people’s hands because they’ve run out of water."
"That’s a long-term, low-interest rate loan that’s available for farmers.
"In the 2016/17 financial year, we approved $53 million worth of loans to over 300 people, and so far this financial year, $30 million worth of loans have been approved to in excess of 200 farming businesses."
State Nationals Member for the Upper Hunter Michael Johnsen insisted there were a range of measures in place to help farmers on an ongoing basis.
"There are a number of aspects through the Department of Primary Industries and other agencies within the NSW Government — indeed the Federal Government — that can assist, but if people aren’t contacting the Local Land Services, then they’re not going to know about it.
"I’ll be meeting with the Primary Industries Minister and I’ll be giving him a briefing on what the conditions are like here in the Upper Hunter."