This is the best year for wildflowers in the 15 years I have lived in California. If you live in San Francisco or the Silicon Valley area, now is a great time to go to parks like Edgewood. Especially if you are not usually a hiker but are interested in checking it out sometime - now is a great sometime.

My recommendation if you live in SF but never really hike too much: http://bahiker.com/southbayhikes/edgewood.html

Or drive down to Carrizo plain! Bit of a trek but lots of fun to explore.

I thought the plain was best later toward the Summer. When is typically the best time down there?

Now! Flowers are amazing we went down over the weekend. I'm guessing when it gets hot soon the flowers will wilt and the hills will turn brown. http://imgur.com/i2fOUPA

Thanks! If it weren't so far (past SLO) I'd go. I can imagine: https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=carizzo%20plain&sort=rel...

Any recommendations for good wildflower blooms in the mid Peninsula?

GP's recommendation (Edgewood) is mid-peninsula.

Oh, perfect--you know I never realized how close that was to me since I'm near 280 in RWC. I'll have to check that out!

It's a great park with a good range of trails. One rec is to get there before 9am if going on a weekend. Parking fills up quickly!

This is from 3 days ago. I wish the camera could capture what my eyes could see.

http://imgur.com/a/yJ6oD

Palos Verdes in the LA Southbay area actually lived up to its name this past weekend when I visited.

The article says it is an El Niño year, but that's wrong. Last year was, but this year has been extremely weird, in that we had more rain than we've ever gotten in a recorded El Niño year despite normal water temps in the tropical Eastern Pacific. Which is great, but makes me wonder what our climate models make of things!

Global warming means there is more energy in the system. It's like turning up the volume. Imagine a driven pendulum, it's just adding a bigger kick so the whole thing swings farther and faster. Of course I'm a layman, but I think experts would generally agree with my simplistic metaphors.

And, yeah, this is pretty much what was forecast [1]. The risks are coping with the long dry spells, and the heavy rain. 5 inches of rain in a day can be ugly if you're not ready.

[1]http://news.stanford.edu/2017/03/21/heavy-california-rains-p...

Correction: the article actually says "But this year’s El Niño-like winter..."

Its not claiming this is an El Niño year

Thanks, I read it too quickly!

I went on a local trail run in LA this week and was surprised by how many thick patches of wildflower there were. Swarmed with bees, snakes crossing the trail under my foot. Best spring in some time

drove recently from LA to SF via the dust bowl. it looks like a foreign country.

I just got back from the Carrizo Plain, it's good but starting to fade but still pretty amazing:

http://mcvoy.com/lm/2017-carrizo-plain

We made down and back in a day from the Santa Cruz mountains.

Awesome photos. I'll be visiting the US and be driving from SF to Las Vegas this weekend. Would you recommend making the detour to Carrizo to see the bloom, or am I too late to the party?

I think you are borderline too late. I was too late for a lot of the blue-ish flowers. I suspect it will still be impressive, similar to my photos (which are jpegs right off the camera, no changes to the saturation/contrast settings).

That said, if this is your one chance and since you are going right by there, hell yes, go check it out. If it is at all decent it's so worth it.

If you have a camera with a lens anything bigger than 1x1m are visible from space.

Writing "visible from Orbit" implies with the human eye.