Wildflower Super Blooms in Death Valley for Fourth Spring in 100 Years

Summary: Wildflower super blooms are spectacular displays that take place for the fourth spring in 100 years in Death Valley National Park of California and Nevada.

Desert Gold, Notch Leaf Phacelia and Sand Verbena number among wildflower super blooms along Death Valley National Park's South Badwater Road, photographed by DVNP intrepretive ranger Dianne Milliard: Death Valley National Park @deathvalleynps, via Instagram Jan. 12, 2016

Wildflower super blooms are occurring for the fourth spring in 100 years, according to the section of the National Park Service website devoted to Death Valley National Park of California and Nevada.

The sun’s warmth, after a winter of weakened winds and well-spaced rainfall, brings pollinating bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and moths to Death Valley from mid-February to mid-April. Wildflower super blooms can be admired in the alluvial fans and in the foothills of the lower elevations below 3,000 feet (914.4 meters) above sea level. The website describes displays in 1978, 1998 and 2005 after “well-spaced rainfall throughout the winter and spring, sufficient warmth from the sun, lack of drying winds.”

This year’s “spectacular spring wildflower displays” elicit viewings by such famous visitors as Laura Bush, 45th First Lady.

Death Valley furnishes wildflower super blooms in the driest, hottest and lowest walled-up habitat niche in North America, at 282 feet (85.95 meters) below sea level.

The valley, 130 miles (209.21 kilometers) long, gets year-averaged daily and record high temperatures of 91 and 134 degrees Fahrenheit (32. 78 and 56.7 degrees Celsius). The 3- to 25-mile- (4.83- to 40.23-kilometer-) wide valley's year-averaged daily and record lows hit 63 and 15 degrees Fahrenheit (17.22 and minus 9.44 degrees Celsius).

A rain shadow east of four mountain ranges, whose west sides receive condensation from cooling, inland-moving, rising clouds, is between Death Valley and the Pacific Ocean.

Summer monsoons join winter storms in generating clouds for normally sunny skies and year-averaged rainfall of 1.94 inches (4.93 centimeters).

The Amargosa and Panamint Ranges keep Death Valley harsh and hot by trapping desert storms that cold fronts generate and warmed air that rocky soils radiate. Their wildflowers leaf out hairy, spiny and waxy to “baffle the wind and retain precious moisture” since “Dry moving air dehydrates exposed surfaces” and kills sprouts. Their annuals manage to survive as brief-blooming ephemerals whose dormant seeds sprout after one-half inch (1.27 centimeters) of “deep soaking gentle rain” removes their protective coverings.

Lower elevations nurture blooms of Bigelow monkeyflowers, brittlebush, caltha-leaved and notchleaf phacelias, desert five-spot, desert gold, golden evening primroses, gravel ghost, rock daisies and sand verbena.

Ranger Alan Van Valkenburg observes that “You always get flowers somewhere in Death Valley almost every month of the year.”

The temperature plummets downward by 3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (1.67 to 2.78 degrees Celsius) for every 1,000 feet (304.8 meters) of vertical rise in elevation.

Canyons and higher desert slopes and valleys at 3,000 to 5,000 feet (914.4 to 1,524 meters) qualify for wildflower blooms from early April to early May. They regale visitors with Bigelow’s coreopsis, desert dandelions, desert globemallows, desert paintbrush, Fremont’s phacelia, indigo bush, Mojave asters, prince’s plume and, reprising from lower elevations, brittlebush. Early May to mid-July showcases desert mariposas, inyo and magnificent lupines, Panamint penstemons and purple and rose sages at 5,000 to 11,000-foot (1,524 to 3,352.8-meter) elevations.

But whatever the month, and especially during wildflower super blooms, rangers tell visitors to take pictures, not plants or seeds.

super blooms of desert sunflower (Geraea canescens), also known as desert gold: Death Valley NP @DeathValleyNPS, via Twitter Feb. 25, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Desert Gold, Notch Leaf Phacelia and Sand Verbena number among wildflower super blooms along Death Valley National Park's South Badwater Road, photographed by DVNP intrepretive ranger Dianne Milliard: Death Valley National Park @deathvalleynps, via Instagram Jan. 12, 2016: Death Valley National Park @deathvalleynps, via Instagram Jan. 12, 2016, @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BAcqMx6EWXF/?taken-by=deathvalleynps

super blooms of desert sunflower (Geraea canescens), also known as desert gold: Death Valley NP @DeathValleyNPS, via Twitter Feb. 25, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/DeathValleyNPS/status/702960368675467264

For further information:

Cox Media Group National Content Desk. 21 February 2016. “Rare ‘Super Bloom’ Could Sprout Millions of Flowers in Death Valley.” WSOCTV > News > National.
Available @ http://www.wsoctv.com/news/national-content/rare-super-bloom-could-sprout-millions-of-flowers-in-death-valley/102301800

“Death Valley Blossoms with Wildflowers in Potential Rare ‘Super Bloom’.” ABC 30 > Weather > Friday, Feb. 12, 2016.
Available @ http://abc30.com/weather/death-valley-blossoms-with-wildflowers-in-potential-rare-super-bloom/1198815/

Death Valley NP @DeathValleyNPS. 25 February 2016. "#superbloom visit our website for the most updated flower report." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/DeathValleyNPS/status/702960368675467264

DeathValleyNP. 11 February 2016. "Death Valley Exposed: Wildflowers - February 2016." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJbcWFTBn08

“Death Valley’s Rare Wildflower Bloom.” Cable News Network > U.S. Edition > Feb. 23, 2016.
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/travel/gallery/death-valley-wildflowers/index.html

Hoffer, Steven. 16 February 2016. “Death Valley National Park Is Poised for a Rare ‘Super Bloom’.” The Huffington Post > Edition : U.S. > HuffPost Science.
Available @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/death-valley-super-bloom_us_56c32cf3e4b0b40245c7d18d

Justice, Adam. 26 February 2016. “Death Valley California Super Bloom: National Park Experiences Rare Burst of Floral Wildflowers.” International Business Times > Science > Nature.
Available @ http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/death-valley-california-super-bloom-national-park-experiences-rare-burst-floral-wildflowers-1546218

Morris, Megan. 16 February 2016. “Death Valley Could Be Close to Rare Super Bloom.” 9 News > Features.
Available @ http://www.9news.com/features/death-valley-could-be-close-to-rare-super-bloom/44653681

Pamer, Melissa. 15 February 2016. “Rare ‘Super Bloom’ May Carpet Death Valley National Park with Wildflowers.” KTLA 5.
Available @ http://ktla.com/2016/02/15/rare-super-bloom-may-carpet-death-valley-national-park-with-wildflowers/

“Rare Superbloom in California’s Death Valley.” EarthSky > Science Wire > Feb. 26, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/earth/rare-superbloom-in-californias-death-valley

“Wildflower Update 2016.” National Park Service > Death Valley > Feb. 24, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/nature/wildflower-update-2016.htm

“Wildflowers.” National Park Service > Death Valley.
Available @ http://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/nature/wildflowers.htm