A super bloom is a colloquial term to describe blooms of wildflowers that super-exceed expectations. Wochit


Wildflower enthusiasts and desert lovers alike are wondering: When can we expect this year's super bloom? 

Recent rain in the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas has experts looking forward to a wildflower boon across the California desert. 

"This year is definitely shaping up to be a very good wildflower year," says Cameron Barrows, an associate research ecologist at UC Riverside's Center for Conservation Biology. "I've lived here in the Coachella Valley for over three decades, and there have been maybe two to four exceptional wildflower years, and this is one of those."

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The reason has to do with the complex interaction between three variables, Barrows says: the "timing of when we received the rain, how much rain and the temperatures." 

In the last month, 4.25 inches of rain has been recorded at Palm Springs International Airport. Since Oct. 1 — the beginning of the annual rainy season — Palm Springs has recorded 7.21 inches of rain. That's more than double the 3.31 inches the city would have seen at this point in the season in an average year. 

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So, when will this year's super bloom happen? "That all depends on where you are," Barrows says. 

"Areas that received significant rain way back in October, generally lower elevations in the east valley from the Salton Sea to the Thousand Palms Preserve to the south entrance of Joshua Tree National Park, have been at a peak flowering for several weeks already," Barrows said. "They are sustaining that peak bloom longer than usual due to the cool temperatures and the relative lack of sphinx moth caterpillars that typically will denude the flower fields when they hit peak numbers.

"From now on, the peak flowering will move progressively up in elevation and westward, giving us flowers somewhere (at those higher elevations) maybe through April or even later," he adds. "Or it might get unseasonably warm, and it will all happen much faster." 

Maureen Gilmer, a horticultural journalist who regularly contributes to DESERT magazine and The Desert Sun, agrees. 

"The recent cold snap is slowing the super bloom in the Coachella Valley," Gilmer says. "Many existing wildflower blossoms froze or went on hold this frosty week except the desert verbena."

Palm Springs is currently having a record cold streak. The city, famed as a warm-weather winter getaway, hasn't experienced 80-degree weather since before Thanksgiving. It hasn't seen 90-degree weather since before Halloween.

More: Record cold streak: Palm Springs goes 88 days without temperature hitting 80 degrees

As for how this affects the super bloom, it will most likely "take a week of hot days to really make it pop," she added.

The first week in March "might be optimal," she says, and you can "add a month to that in the high desert due to snow and frozen ground."

For now, the current prolonged flowering is "allowing each plant to put out more flowers than average, which mean more seeds, and so they are re-charging the soil seed bank," Barrows says, "ensuring that the next time the rain and temperatures are just right, there will be another amazing wildflower show for us to enjoy."

Kristin Scharkey is the editor of DESERT magazine and features editor at The Desert Sun. Reach her at or on Twitter @kscharkey. Desert Sun editors Julie Makinen and Matt Solinsky, and reporter Shane Newell contributed to this report.

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