Drone footage of desert 'super bloom' will make your frigid Thursday
Abundant showers mean brilliant flowers for a California desert.
Canyons, sands and badlands are now speckled with yellows, purples and pinks inside the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
After years of severe drought, California experienced one of its wettest winters on record. Those rains have fueled a once-in-a-decade wildflower "super bloom" in the park seen in drone footage captured on a sunny day earlier this week.
A New York Times video also captures the super bloom in 360 degrees at the park, which is located about 90 miles east of San Diego and sits inside the Colorado Desert.
"It has a chance to be the biggest [bloom] in 20 years," botanist Jim Dice, who manages a field research center in the park, told the Los Angeles Times.
Among the super-blooming wildflowers are bright yellow Parish's poppies, desert lilies, desert sunflowers, dune evening primrose, monkeyflower, whispering bells and the Little Gold poppy, according to the state park.
The unusually colorful landscape has drawn so many visitors that the typically empty park is experiencing heavy traffic congestion and faulty cell service, authorities advised.
Dice said the bloom is now at its peak, meaning wildflower seekers shouldn't delay if they plan to visit this natural wonder.
Video credit: YouTube/Jeff Webber via Storyful
Maria Gallucci was a Science Reporter at Mashable. She was previously the energy and environment reporter at International Business Times; features editor of Makeshift magazine; clean economy reporter for InsideClimate News; and a correspondent in Mexico City until 2011. Maria holds degrees in journalism and Spanish from Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College.
