It’s officially a moderate drought in Los Angeles, San Diego counties along with the Southern California deserts.

Given the horrendous wildfires that shouldn’t be a surprise.

But what might be is the fact there is another region in California that is just as big and is abnormally dry — the entire  Northen San Joaquin Valley, counties encompassing the Diablo Range and the Central Sierra.

The National Weather Service’s climate and drought summary and outlook for December 2024 notes that while precipitation for the current water year that started Oct. 1, 2024 is 100 to 200 plus percent above normal in areas along and north of Interstate 80, that’s not the case in this area.

The Northern San Joaquin Valley, Diablo Range, and Central Sierra is at 50 to 90 percent of normal.

As of early January the Northern California snowpack that feeds the massive Shasta and Oroville reservoirs was 150 percent of normal.

It’s a different story in the Central Sierra that includes the Stanislaus River watershed that the South San Joaquin Irrigation District as well as Manteca, Lathrop and Tracy depend on for water from runoff. The Central Sierra snowpack is at 91 percent of normal.

The Central Sierra also includes the Tuolumne and Merced watersheds.

Rainfall in Manteca, measured on the weather year starting July 1, was 4.48 inches as of Jan. 16

That is 75 percent of normal on that date which is 6 inches.

The weather service noted the outlook through March 31 issued by the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration projects below normal to near normal precipitation for the Northern San Joaquin Valley and Central Sierra.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com