‘Dry as a bone.’ Why it’s not looking good for a wildflower superbloom in SLO County this year
The possibility of another spectacular superbloom in San Luis Obispo County this year is getting smaller and smaller with every passing sunny day.
Thanks to this winter’s significantly dry conditions, watchers at the Carrizo Plain National Monument are warning that it’s looking unlikely there will be another massive display of wildflowers this year — unless something changes drastically in the weather in the coming weeks.
In his latest wildflower alert on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, Carrizo Plain Conservancy President Neil Havlik said that despite the recent rain, “It’s still looking dry out there.”
“One area where I thought there might be some evidence of wildflowers was at the southern end of Soda Lake, where the alkaline soil keeps most grass out, and a species of goldfields can often be found,” he said in the alert. “This time there was virtually nothing and the area looked dry as a bone.”
Could dry weather prevent California superbloom?
In recent years, California has been treated to stunning displays of wildflowers each spring, often referred to as superblooms — though technically the term is more specifically used to refer to large-scale blooms after years of dry conditions and a wet winter force long-dormant seeds to burst to colorful life.
In San Luis Obispo County, the 2023 Carrizo Plain superbloom was so large it could be seen from space. Last year saw a somewhat smaller, yet still eye-catching local bloom.
This year, however, it’s looking like a lack of rain might stave off any sort of massive show.
According to Havlik, only about 3 inches of rain have fallen on the Carrizo Plain area this season so far, leaving the national monument with “very little grass and no evidence of any kind of wildflower bloom.”
The Carrizo Plain isn’t alone.
Following a round of heavy atmospheric-river-fueled storms in mid-February, roughly 58% of California was still at least “abnormally dry” as of Feb. 18, 2025, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
That swath of dry stretched across Southern and Central California and up into the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley. According to the Drought Monitor, roughly 41.6% of the state was in moderate drought, 24.8% was in severe drought and 14.8% was in extreme drought during this time period.
That included nearly all of San Luis Obispo County, where just under 93% was designated abnormally dry and 41.6% was in moderate drought, according to the Drought Monitor.
The latest drought status comes after San Luis Obispo County saw one of its driest Januarys on record amid a La Niña winter.
Without a significant amount of rain, it’s possible those drought conditions will keep dormant wildflower seeds from sprouting, preventing a large-scale bloom.
Wildflower watcher ‘not optimistic’ about SLO County wildflower season
During a recent tour of the Carrizo Plain, Havlik did note that there were “a few shrub and perennial herb species with scattered individuals in bloom, but they were few and far between.”
“Among the plants with early blooms were bladder pods (Isomeris) and locoweeds (Astragalus) along Highway 58 on the eastern side of Carrizo Plain, but that was about it,” he said in the alert.
In all, Havlik said he was “not too optimistic right now about the wildflower outlook.”
“Keep your fingers crossed, do your rain dance and pray for a wet spring,” he said.
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