San Diego County edged closer to drought Tuesday, whipped by fierce and damaging Santa Ana winds that further dried out a region that hasn’t gotten a long, deep soaking of rain since March.

Parts of Southern California are still facing "elevated to brief "critical conditions" into Thursday night as a fast-moving wildfire that forced thousands in Malibu to evacuate continues to grow.Threat level: Red Flag warnings ended as powerful Santa Ana winds eased on Wednesday afternoon,

The fire erupted during extreme Santa Ana winds. The National Weather Service issued "a particularly dangerous" red-flag warning for much of the local area for the second time in a little over a month. Those are triggered during extreme conditions, ones that can cause fires to ignite easily and spread quickly, officials said.