Sorry guys. I know that blooming in the snow is difficult. I promise spring will return someday. It won’t likely be this entire coming week, seeing as how there is a persistent trough over the Western US bringing cold Canadian air down – yet again, as it has already done several weeks already this winter – but eventually it will move along and it should warm up a bit. (Photo taken at about 11 PM, Sunday February 17, 2019.)

In contrast to the rather warm and very dry winter of 2017-2018, the winter of 2018-2019 is quite a bit colder and wetter in the western USA. This has been largely beneficial from the standpoint of reducing drought levels significantly, although pockets of long-term dryness remain in most western states as of February 14, 2019. When we say long-term dryness, we essentially mean that after years of severe to extreme drought levels, it will simply take awhile to undo the damage in such areas as forest stress, reservoir and groundwater depletion, and rangeland recovery. Short-term hydrological concerns that respond more quickly are in much better shape over most of the region than they were 6 months ago.The US Drought Monitor depiction for Thursday, October 11, 2018. Every western state has at least some drought designation, and there are extensive regions of Extreme and Exceptional Drought levels.

The US Drought Monitor depiction for Thursday, February 14, 2019, about four months after the first graphic. Much dryness relief progress has been made across many areas, although long-term lingering effects that take longer to erase are still shown. Further improvements in the late winter and spring months of 2019 are likely.

Western Continental US satellite image of a storm moving inland on January 15, 2019.

The Western Conus Water Vapor Loop image from 8 AM on Tuesday, January 15, 2019 shows a strong storm system moving inland over Southern California, bringing anywhere from one to four inches (25 to 100 mm) of rainfall to the Los Angeles region. This storm produced a generous 2.1 inches (53 mm) of rainfall for me here in western Arizona and amounts from a half inch to over 3 inches throughout the rest of the state.

NOAA radar image showing an estimated storm rainfall total for the Las Vegas forecast region, with many areas receiving 1.5 to 2 inches of rainfall, even in the normally drier valleys.

Two weeks later, another strong storm set up and passed across the desert southwest on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, starting with California, which ended up receiving one to several more inches of rain in most regions. As usual, amounts inland are lower, but still significant.

Immediately on the heels of the January 29 storm came another one on Saturday, February 2, 2019. D:FR got only .25 inches of rain (6 mm) but Las Vegas got about .75″ (18 mm) as did areas north and west of there.

Meanwhile coastal regions of Southern California got 1.5 to 4 inches. Again.

San Diego is having a wetter than average winter as well.

This striking image of a pair of low pressure systems spinning off of the Pacific Coast on Saturday, February 2, 2019 shows how the parade of storms is working to reduce drought depictions across much of the western US.

Large, wet snowflakes the size of pennies cascade from the sky.

On Sunday February 17, 2018 a cold storm dropping out of British Columbia hit my gardens at Destination:Forever Ranch, bringing a rare snowfall to my cacti and succulents. This isn’t really as much of a problem as it looks to be, since years ago I decided to primarily plant items that could tolerate these sorts of periodic conditions. Truly frost-sensitive items were mostly eliminated for consideration years ago, simply because if they are too touchy to tolerate some below-freezing nights then they are too difficult to bother with for outdoor landscaping purposes.

Aloe “Hercules” shivers in the snow alongside Oreocereus hendriksianus. After this photo was taken, I did cover both plants just to be safe and avoid damage, despite the fact that both tolerate some freezing without issues.

Besides, snow-producing storms are seldom the coldest and most damaging ones I face anyway. Those would be the dry and clear cold fronts that offer zero clouds to help keep temps up, usually combined with strong and frigid northerly winds originating over the Canadian Rockies and northern Great Plains, and arriving over the deserts from the northeast. Experience has taught me over the past 20 years that those are by far the worst storms in terms of frost damage. Not snowy ones, although they do look much more dramatic.

Hints of red spines show beneath the snow on Ferocactus pringlei, while other Agaves, Aloes, and Opuntias are coated with large flakes.

I am posting this long after the event happened, because getting blog posts as detailed as I make them takes time and sometimes I get interrupted and don’t complete them as intended. C’est la vie – they still have educational and artistic value even if they are technically a bit outdated.  😉

At the time I started writing this post on February 18, 2019 I could not have yet known that a few days later, on Feb 21, 2019, a second snowfall would hit D:F Ranch. That makes two snows in one year, after two winters prior that saw no snowfall whatsoever at this elevation of 3000 feet where I live.

The most snowfall events I have seen in one single winter is three, in 2015-2016. None was all that much (all under an inch) but that was atypical for sure!

Snow on succulents such as this prickly pear has a different way of highlighting their sculptured shapes.

Euphorbia royleana is from the lower slopes of the very tall Himalayas in northern India, and as such can tolerate more frost than any other columnar euphorbia I know of. I love this plant and it is the only one of its type that I can hope to grow, although again I do protect it below about 25 F (- 5 C) to avoid tip damage. Like the Aloe “Hercules” above, it got covered later on just to be safe.

An agave of unknown hybrid origins and Ferocactus pringlei display their winter coats.

Eucalyptus sargentii bows under the weight of the snow. The leaves did suffer some minor cold damage later in the week at about 20 F (-7 C), but the tree is quickly outgrowing it and replacing the burnt foliage with fresh new growth in April, as I finish writing the post.

Well at least this saguaro doesn’t need any winter protection! The owl approves.