Wildflowers blanket Death Valley in best display since 2016

A man and a boy are standing in a field full of yellow flowers. Dry, brown hillsides are behind them

Jo Wade

BBC Weather

1 hour ago

Death Valley in California - the hottest place on Earth and the driest place in North America - is currently carpeted in wildflowers in what is shaping up to be the best bloom in a decade.

The National Park Service (NPS) officially categorised this as an above-average bloom year on 22 February, with low-elevation flowers blooming throughout the park.

It is the best event the site has seen since 2016, with swathes of the desert transformed and covered in golden and violet flora.

A sea of small purple flowers are blooming. Behind are jagged mountain tops and hills and the sun shines in a clear blue sky — Image caption,
Pretty flowers bloom in the sunshine of Death Valley National Park in California in early March

The trigger was an unusually wet autumn. Record rainfall of 2.41in (6.1cm) hit Death Valley in the autumn of 2025, soaking seeds and washing off their protective coatings to trigger sprouting, followed by a dramatically wetter winter that provided the steady moisture needed for root development.

A lone yellow, dainty flower stands tall against a blue sky and blazing Sun. Beneath it are purple flowers and sand can be seen in betweek the plants — Image caption,
A lone desert sunflower towers over a cluster of desert sand-verbena near Ashford Junction at the southern end of Death Valley National Park

The bright yellow desert gold is currently one of the most prominent flowers on display, alongside brown-eyed primrose, grape soda lupine and desert star.

A huge stretch of yellow flowers dominates the lower third of the photo, whilst brown mountains and blue sky make up the rest of the scene — Image caption,
Blooms as far as the eye can see in Death Valley National Park

Low-elevation flowers are expected to persist until mid-to-late March, with higher elevation blooms predicted from April through June.

A large area of yellow flowers in the foreground. Behind are snow-capped mountains and what looks to be a lake — Image caption,
Spring flowers bloom against a backdrop of Telescope Peak, Death Valley National Park, California

While some have used the term "superbloom", the park itself is cautious about the label. NPS officials noted that although there are not as many flowers as in past superbloom years, there are far more than most years. Previous superblooms in Death Valley occurred in 1998, 2005 and 2016.

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