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Will California have a 'superbloom' this year? Here's what to know about the flower spectacle
- Carpets of yellow, orange and gold flowers are spreading across Southern California’s deserts.
- This year’s blooms are not as vibrant or abundant as last year’s “superbloom,” which followed drought-busting rains.
- Superblooms occur when desert stretches transform into dense wildflower fields due to dormant seeds germinating after seasons with over 30 percent average precipitation.
Carpets of yellow, orange and gold flowers are beginning to cover Southern California’s vast deserts, the Bay Area’s dramatic bluffs and even near Los Angeles International Airport.
But do they add up to a “superbloom”? There is no single definition of the event, but so far this year’s blooms haven’t been as vibrant or abundant as those that took over swaths of California last spring following drought-busting rains. This year, too, the state received ample winter rains.
After especially wet winters, bursts of color may appear in the spring, drawing droves of visitors to California and other parts of the Southwest to glimpse the flowering fields and pose for pictures.
CALIFORNIA’S MASSIVE SUPERBLOOM SEEN FROM SPACE FOLLOWING HISTORIC, DROUGHT-ENDING RAINS
Here are some key facts about the natural spectacle.
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, flowers bloom in Mussel Rock Park in Daly City, California, on April 1, 2024. Carpets of tiny, rain-fed wildflowers known as “superblooms” are appearing in parts of California and Arizona. Their arrival draws droves of visitors who stop to glimpse the flashes of color and pose for pictures. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
WHAT’S A SUPERBLOOM?
Scientists don’t agree on any one definition. Across California and Arizona, there are stretches of desert that can quickly transform into dense fields of wildflowers, since seeds lie dormant in the soil and then germinate and blossom at around the same time.
A recent study found that such widespread blooms, which have been visible by satellite imagery in some years, take place after seasons with greater than 30% average precipitation, said Naomi Fraga, director of conservation programs at the California Botanic Garden, east of Los Angeles.
DOES THIS YEAR COUNT?
No, according to Fraga. That’s because there isn’t a huge diversity in the flowers that have blossomed in places like California’s Death Valley.
This year’s blooms aren’t as large or as dense as wildflowers in past years, she said.
“When I think of superblooms, I think of a bloom that is so extraordinary, that’s a once in a lifetime event,” Fraga said, adding that the wildflower display this year “still makes a beautiful show.”
Last spring, early April visitors to Southern California’s Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve were treated to dazzling orange displays of the state flower. But around the same time this year, the fields were absent of the orange blooms, with the reserve’s officials posting that the window for an impressive show was becoming “increasingly narrow.”
In Death Valley, one of the driest places on earth, stretches of desert are dotted with gold thanks to sunflowers that emerged after an especially wet winter and spring.
Whether that constitutes a superbloom is “really in the eye of the beholder,” said Evan Meyer, executive director of the California-based nonprofit Theodore Payne Foundation, which works to preserve California’s native plants.
WHEN DOES IT HAPPEN?
April is typically the peak month for spring wildflowers, but in high-elevation places they can continue to blossom later into the spring.
Superblooms generally refer to low-elevation desert regions, Fraga said.
“It’s much more geographic than seasonal,” Meyer said. “Spring in the mountains hasn’t started, and in the low desert, it’s past its peak.”
When temperatures rise in the desert, the flowers can quickly dry out.
HOW DOES CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECT THE SUPERBLOOM?
Experts say it might be too soon to tell.
Climate change is making precipitation patterns more erratic, but the effects on wildflowers could play out over decades or even centuries, Fraga said, since seeds stay dormant in the soil for long periods of time.
Southern California received heavy rain last summer, unlike its usually dry summers, which she said probably stimulated flowers to germinate out of season. Winter temperatures also were higher than average, so many of them were able to stay in bloom through the spring season.
“That made for a very unusual bloom,” Fraga said.
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Oregon Senate Democrats unanimously voted to kill an effort to require that federal authorities be notified when an illegal immigrant convicted of a violent felony is about to be released from prison, leading the chamber’s top Republican to say the majority is choosing ideology over common sense.
In Oregon’s legislature, the minority caucus is permitted to file an alternative “minority report” to a majority party-led bill, which would then replace the majority’s legislation before it heads to the governor as a “last-ditch” effort to amend or stop a proposal, according to a source familiar with Salem’s processes.
This particular minority report would have directed state officials to notify federal authorities when an illegal immigrant convicted of a violent felony, such as murder, was about to be released. That would give ICE an opportunity to transfer the person to its custody without the kind of expansive resource deployment seen in some uncooperative blue cities.
The Oregon State Senate voted down the minority report for Senate Bill 1594, 18-12, along party lines, with one lawmaker excused, as Republicans warned of the tally’s public safety consequences.
ICE agents deploy measures in Portland, Ore., in February 2026. (Sean Bascom/Getty Images)
The original and active SB 1594 would require Oregon’s Justice Department to consult with the state Office of Immigration and Refugee Advancement on updated “model policies” at immigration facilities.
State Sen. Mark Meek, D-Oregon City, who is considered a moderate, defended his vote on the floor in Salem by saying that ICE should instead “sit outside” state prisons because recapturing subjects would be like “fishing in a pond; in a barrel.”
“If the federal government wants to be serious about taking care of that business, then that’s the place you should be,” Meek said.
Critics of that view said it would run counter to the left’s tendency to protest broad ICE operations in certain localities.
DEM GOVERNOR’S ‘DANGEROUS’ ANTI-ICE LAW IGNITES BACKLASH AFTER ALLEGED BOX CUTTER ATTACK BY ILLEGAL ALIEN
Oregon’s corrections department previously tracked the immigration status of those convicted of felonies but has not run a check since 2022, after a 2021 bill restricted the tracking of whether an inmate has an ICE detainer, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“The vote runs contrary to the clear will of Oregonians and Americans across party lines, who overwhelmingly support the removal of illegal immigrants convicted of violent or serious crimes across multiple reputable polls,” the minority caucus said in a statement on the minority report’s failure.
State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, called the bill “as common sense as common sense gets.”
“Do we want violent felons who have no legal right to be present in Oregon to remain here, or should there at least be an opportunity for federal authorities to take custody?”
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“The effect of voting ‘no’ today is to affirm that a person who is here illegally and commits a felony in Oregon should remain here as the felon is released from prison,” added state Sen. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte.
Fox News Digital reached out to Oregon Senate President Robert Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, and Senate Majority Leader Kayse Jama, D-East Portland, for comment.
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Sometimes life requires an easy hang, without the need for reservations and dressing up, and preferably with food that’s easy to rally folks behind. The newish Hamburguesa Bar is just such a place, opening in December 2025 and serving a tight food menu of smash and tavern burgers (made with beef ground in-house), along with hand-cut duck fat fries, poutine, and Caesar salad. The best part? Nothing here costs more than $20. Seriously, this spot has so much going for it, including solid cocktails and boozy shakes. It’s become a homing beacon for post-work hangs, judging by a recent weekday crowd.
Hamburguesa Bar’s drinks are the epitome of unfussy: Cocktail standards, four beers on tap, two choices of wine (red or white), boozy and non-boozy shakes, plus 21 beers by the can or bottle. Standards on the cocktail menu are just that, a list of drinks you’ve heard before — such as an Old Fashioned, daiquiri, gin or vodka martini, or Harvey Wallbanger — with no special tinctures or fat-washed liquors to speak of (that we know of, at least). I’m typically split on whether boozy shakes are ever worth it, but the Fruity Pebbles option ($14) makes a convincing case, mixed with a just-right amount of vodka and some cereal bits. (I’ll leave the more adventurous Cinnamon Toast shake made with Fireball to others with more positive experiences with that liquor.)
Downtown and SoMa has a reputation for restaurants closing early, but Hamburguesa Bar keeps later hours, closing at midnight from Monday through Saturday (closed Sundays). It’s also open for lunch at noon during those days, with the exception of Saturdays when it opens at 5 p.m.
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