"Super Bloom" Is A Glorious End Product Of Generous California Rains

As I've written about this winter frequently, California finally had a wet winter after years of drought.

Although there was a lot of damage from floods, mudslides and the like, a multi-year punishing drought has largely be erased, although not completely in southern California.

California deserts are not exactly places you go if you want to see multitudes of flowers. Except at the tail end of a wet winter.

Seeds left behind by plants in previous years finally got a chance to sprout with this winter's rain, and the result has been a breathtaking explosion of color in the normally beige deserts.

The bloom has been so intense that there was a big traffic jam on Interstate 15 near Lake Elsinore as people stopped to take in the beauty and snap pictures, according to the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.

Photos of the bloom in this post are by Watchara Phomicinda of the Press-Enterprise.

Of course, stopping on Interstate highways is discouraged and illegal except in emergencies, but something this beautiful almost qualifies as an emergency.

Some of the flower seeds probably lay dormant in the desert for years or even decades. Heavy rains will wash off a protective covering on the seeds, prompting them to germinate and bloom.

Riverside, California City Manager Grant Yates told the Press-Enterprise, "With the drought, we haven't seen that (wildflower bloom) for many years."

Pretty much nobody in Riverside was complaining about the beauty, or the influx of tourists spending money in the town.