Outdoors
Autumn Color in San Diego County’s mountains reaches its greatest intensity in late October and early November. The forested heights of Palomar Mountain are especially colorful right now. Black oaks on Palomar’s rolling uplands will …
The Floss Silk Tree, a conspicuous “autumn bloomer” here and there around San Diego, has been showing off its pinkish or purplish, hibiscus-like flowers for a few weeks. The broad, heavy trunks of this South …
As the Beach-Going Season Winds Down, San Diego County’s coastline is padded by what is likely the deepest and widest accumulations of sand we’ll see this year. Many stretches of the coastline are vulnerable to …
Chinese Flame Trees are now displaying colorful clusters of orange, reddish, or salmon-pink seed pods. Good specimens line the south end of Balboa Drive in Balboa Park and Lake Murray Boulevard through San Diego’s San …
The Time of Sunset changes most rapidly this time of the year. This is mainly because the sun is swinging rapidly south along the ecliptic (its apparent path through the background stars). From the latitude …
Birdwatchers need not despair now that the winter migrants are gone. Plenty of shore birds can be found on summer evenings in the natural coastal wetland areas of San Diego County. From south to north …
“June Gloom,” the cool and intermittently overcast conditions likely to dominate the beach and coastal areas through the remainder of this month, mocks the already sizzling temperatures inland. If it weren’t for the ocean’s enormous …
The Catalina Eddy, a meteorological condition responsible for days-long episodes of dreary, overcast weather over San Diego, is most likely to occur in May and June. This weather pattern, which intensifies our late spring “June …
San Diego’s Coastal Wildflower Bloom continues practically unabated this year owing to late-season rains and cooler weather during April. On north-facing slopes and in shady canyon bottoms, where the sun’s drying effects have not yet …
Blue-Blossoming Jacaranda Trees have already produced a first wave of color along the streets of San Diego. By early or mid-May, warm weather permitting, this Brazilian import could put on a dazzling show. The larger …
By early April, the Anza-Borrego superbloom was all but over. Yellow puffs of blooming brittlebush still dotted the mountains on approach, and orange-petaled spindles still tipped the ocotillos’ tall tendrils, but the carpet of flowers …