Nature

Death Valley Wildflowers May Be in the Midst of a Rare 'Super Bloom'

If you're looking for some color in the barren landscape of mid-winter, one of the best places to look right now is Death Valley National Park.

The normally brown lands of Death Valley have been painted bright yellow thanks to a large bloom of wildflowers. On Thursday, the national park posted a video to its Facebook page showing the widespread bloom in all its beauty.

Death Valley's wildflowers are seen here in a video released by the National Park Service.
(Screenshot via NPS video)

"The bloom has been made possible by the influx of precipitation brought to the region during this strong El Niño, which, most often brings increased moisture in the Southwest," said weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Erdman.

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According to the Press-Enterprise, the blooms will move up the hills that surround the canyons as the weather warms up this spring, presenting the opportunity for a rare "super bloom."

If it happens, it will be the first time since 2005 that the park has seen a super bloom, the park said on its Facebook page. Right now, the bloom is relatively localized, but the conditions are setting up for an explosion of color all over the park, the Washington Post said.

“There are so many seeds out there just waiting to sprout, just waiting to grow,” park ranger Alan Van Valkenburg told the Washington Post.

If you're in the area and would like to see the blooms, the Los Angeles Times notes that the best blooms occurring right now are near parts of Badwater Road, Artists Drive, Hells Gate and Salt Creek. Walking into the canyons will provide the best scenery of the blooms, so be sure to leave your car and wander around a bit, the report added.

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